Author: Scott

Isn’t it amazing that we have access to God through Jesus. His life, death, and ultimately his resurrection, give us this access. He is our everlasting father. He is our peace. He is our hope. He is our protector. And above all else, he is our Lord and Savior. We must strive to be like him. He is the example of how we should love others. The Bible is full of stories showing us how we should do this. God will not give up on us. He will be there. Even when we turn our back on him, and run from him, he will be there. Waiting for our return. Even when we break his heart, he will be there. His love will not waiver. The story of the Prodigal Son is a great example of this. The father in the story never gave up hope. Always praying for his son‘s return. I have a similar experience.

My high school basketball coach became my father figure after my dad passed away. I was 15. Throughout high school, he used his position in my life to teach me values and lessons of life. I always found it interesting that he would find out what I was doing. And he would make sure to correct me in his not so subtle ways. (Those that knew him, will understand this.) All the while, I never wanted to accept his teachings. I was determined to be my own man. Didn’t think I needed him. As I got into college, I drifted away from him. Started to really follow my own path. Made my own decisions. My own choices. Which would eventually lead me to being paralyzed. 

In the hospital, before I could even talk, those around me told me he was going to come visit. I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want to hear his lessons. I was embarrassed because I was paralyzed doing things that he told me I shouldn’t do. I had let him down. When he came in, I remember being anxious. Waiting for him to say something to correct me. But all he did was bend down and kiss me on my forehead. I will never forget that. He was still there for me. I knew I was in for a long road. But, I also knew he was in my corner. And because of that, I knew I could face what I had ahead of me. Fast forward to January 1992. He is the one who led me to Christ. He had never given up. Always loved me. Just as Christ loves us. He always has. He always will.

The last two days we’ve covered points about forgiving ourselves and forgiving others. We mentioned that to those can be very hard for some people to do. Myself included. But they are both important for us in order to have pure hearts. I think we need pure hearts to serve God to the best of our abilities. The third point of forgiveness is being forgiven by our Lord and Savior. The Bible tells us that if we repent and confess that we will be forgiven. Something that is also difficult for some of us to do. 

I have been asked many times, “How can I be forgiven for what I have seen and what I have done?” It really is a great question. And I get it. We are sinners. How is forgiveness possible? There’s really only one answer for this. Jesus. Jesus is the answer. That’s how it’s possible. His sacrifice on the cross took care of that for us. We cannot do anything to earn forgiveness. We don’t even deserve it. But Christ’s love for us is so great, that it is there for us simply by asking for it. 

How incredible! God loves us so much, we can be forgiven. God loves us so much, he sent his son to die on the cross for us. God loves us so much, we can spend eternity in heaven with him. It really is that simple. His love does these things for us. His love paved the way for us. He has always loved us. And he always will. Unfortunately, many of us will not receive that love. Won’t believe it. Won’t take it in. It’s hard to think about what they are missing out on. It’s my prayer that you receive what is waiting for you. That you receive the grace that comes from Jesus. Maybe today is the day for you to do so. To take Jesus into your heart. To accept him as your Lord and Savior. Make the greatest decision for your life that you can make. If you haven’t already, just open your heart. He’s waiting. He’s there. All you have to do is ask.

Yesterday we talked about how we need to forgive ourselves to have a pure heart. And that we need a pure heart to serve God. The second point of forgiveness I want to discuss is forgiving others. Just as forgiving ourselves might be the hardest for some of us to do of the three points we’re going to make, forgiving others might be the hardest to do for some of us as well. 

When someone wrongs us, or wrongs someone that we care about, we must try to forgive them. I am fully aware how hard this is. Because I am as guilty as the next of not forgiving. Not so much when someone wrongs me. I can brush that off. But when someone harms my family, especially my wife or children, I want to retaliate. I want them to pay for what they’ve done. I want them to feel the same pain that they have caused. Actually, I want them to suffer more. And I want to be the cause of their pain. These are all my natural responses as a husband and father. I’m sure many of you feel the same way. But, I have learned over time that I MUST forgive them instead. WE must all learn to do this. 

Here’s why. First off, the Bible tells us we must forgive others. Plain and simple. It’s a command. Secondly, forgiving others is not a gift for them. It does not release them from what they have done. They are still guilty. And I am completely fine with them being held accountable. Forgiving them, releases us. Not them. It is a gift to us. It is an amazing gift to us. How is that? It releases us because it takes that off of our shoulders. It takes away the constant burden of wanting to retaliate. It takes the hate out of our hearts. We probably will never forget. Nothing wrong with that. We can learn from these types of situations. And we can grow stronger. But forgiving is going to give us a peace in our hearts again. We can sleep better. We can go about our days better. And just like the first point we made yesterday, it helps make our hearts pure. Which allows us to better serve our God. Which we all should strive to do. Because he loves us. Always has. Always will.

It’s no secret that God created us. Therefore we belong to God. We are his. Just as a newborn child belongs to his or her parents. All that we have and we are, we owe to God. Since we are part of his creation, God loves us. And he will protect us.

One aspect of being human, being part of the creation, is our need to belong to something. We need to feel connected to something. We need to be accepted and loved. Unfortunately, this inherit need can lead us to make bad decisions and choices. We find ourselves seeking things of this world. Wanting to belong to the wrong groups. Looking for everything except for what is in God. I did that for a long time. Many of us may feel more strongly about belonging to our families, our social circle, racial or ethnic group, or other groups than we do about belonging to God.

Sometimes it’s easier for us to believe that we are “self-made” by our own creation. But as soon as we realize we are created in him, and created for his purpose, our sense of belonging changes. Then we can truly submit our lives to him. We can submit ourselves to serving him. We then know that we are his treasure. He values us. And then we can show others this same value and love. The same hope and peace that only comes from God. No matter where we are in life, we can do this. In our work. In our hobbies. In our passions. We can show God’s love to everyone around us. Helping them realize that they are part of his creation as well. How glorious is that! Pretty awesome.

The Bible is full of countless miraculous stories. Stories about Jesus doing amazing things. He gave sight to the blind. A paralyzed man walked. He calmed storms. He fed thousands of people. The dead even came back to life. His power is beyond anything that we can ever comprehend. We can try to…”imagine” it. But it’s still beyond your wildest imaginations.

The stories are pretty incredible. They really are. Demonstrating what he is capable of doing. I would argue some of his greatest miracles aren’t quite as visible. What I mean is, we don’t see them immediately. For example, a paralyzed man walking is something we see immediately. Even Jesus thought that. But, we must remember that he told his disciples they would do greater things than he did. The stories of Peter and Paul are good examples. 

We have been called to serve. That is a miracle in itself. The ability to spread the good news is truly miraculous. We get to show hope and peace. We get to show love. We get to show the way to salvation. Some 2000 years ago, Jesus left earth, but left us with this power. And even more miraculous than that, He gave us eternal life. Wow! Is there a greater miracle? I think not. So celebrate Christmas knowing that. Knowing that our God loves us so much, that he has paved the way for us to spend eternity with him. And he has given us the power to show others the same path. Truly miraculous.

Before we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our identities come from the world. How people view us or label us comes from the world. Our identities and labels come from our cultures and our families. They come from people that we do not know. They even come from the ones that we place on ourselves. But it’s important for us to remember, none of these come from God. They are not what God says about us.

But here’s the difficult part. Sometimes hard for us to accept. Sometimes hard for us to believe. When we take Jesus into our hearts, everything about us should change. Including our identities. Including our labels. And others should see this as well. Our walks with Christ should demonstrate this. They should show this. Our “old selfs” have been washed away. Our “new selfs” are brilliant and full of hope. Everything changes. Even how we view God should change. 

Why is this hard to accept? Why is this hard for us to believe? I have had veterans tell me they don’t know how they can be forgiven, from what they have seen and what they have done. I have had civilians say the same thing. The doubt comes into our minds because we are vulnerable during this transition. And it’s during this vulnerability that Satan tries to creep in. Telling us that we have not been changed. That we cannot be changed. But remember, he is the liar. The grand liar. Doing all he can to steal your soul away from Christ. So try to remember this: The Victory Has Already Been Declared! The cross did that for us. Therefore our new identities and labels are real. Christ has you covered. He has taken away the “old”. He has given you the “new”. It may take you a little while to fully believe this. It may take practice. Maybe today is the day for you to start doing so. Maybe today is the day to begin truly believing your heart has been changed. Maybe today is the day to put your energy and efforts into this. Truly believe that God loves you. He always has. He always will.

My Facebook memory this morning is a great lesson for us all. So I have to share it. It’s about when I had the opportunity to take my grandson deer hunting. It was a chilly evening. Not as cold as it had been. But chilly enough that after about 45 minutes of being in the blind, Creed had had enough. So he joined Barbara back at the farm house. Helping her do some chores that needed to be done.

As the evening progressed, I had some deer show up. The season was antlerless only. Meaning that bucks were not allowed. Only does. I was out trying to secure some meat for Anna at her new home. And I was able to take one. But it wasn’t until after we approached it that we realized it was a button buck. Not a doe. But still legal. Creed came back down from the farmhouse. This was his first time getting to experience this part of a hunt. He was excited and was taking it all in as one of my close friends field dressed it. It really was a pretty cool moment for me to watch him watch my friend work.  

There were several funny moments with Creed during this time. Six year olds can say the darndest things. But the honesty of children is so humbling. After realizing that it was not a doe, Creed said, “We need to stand it back up.” In his mind we didn’t want to break the law. Not knowing that it was still legal, he was trying to correct a mistake. Trying to make it “OK” for his Opa. I love his heart. This makes me think about us as adults. We make mistakes too. And sometimes we try to correct them. As Christians, we make mistakes. Although I strive not to, I make them daily. But, I love the honesty of our Lord and Savior. I love the accountability with our Lord and Savior. I love the humility of our Lord and Savior. I love the forgiveness we can receive from our Lord and Savior. But most importantly, I love the salvation we receive from our Lord and Savior. Without it, I know I would be lost. I would be hopeless. We all would. This is the season of celebrating his birth. Make no mistake about it, it is the birth of our Lord and Savior. So as we celebrate, let’s be thankful for his honesty, accountability, humility, forgiveness, and most importantly, the salvation we receive. Because he loves us. Always has. Always will.