Author: Scott

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. It’s his choice. He chooses to forgive us. That’s how it’s possible. We cannot do anything to earn forgiveness. We can’t work for it. We can’t pay for it. 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 believe it. And believing is the key to salvation. Trusting Jesus is the key. That’s it. Read John 5:24. 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 believe and trust Jesus. 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 believe. He’s waiting. He’s there. All you have to do is ask.

Yesterday we talked about forgiving ourselves. And that having a pure heart helps us better 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. Read today’s verse again. 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.

This morning I was thinking about what I wanted to write about. The topic of Forgiveness kept coming to mind. It is not one of my favorites, so I kind of brushed it off. But as I began reading, Ephesians 4:32 popped up. That’s a God-wink for you. So the next three days will be my thoughts on forgiveness. And these are definitely thoughts that I’m writing to myself. To remind myself. Please stay with me as I stumble through them.

My first point is that we must forgive ourselves. This might be the hardest type of forgiving for some of us to do. Many of us have tremendous guilt for the things that we have seen or done. I know I do. And I have had many veterans tell me the same thing. But we are called to serve our Lord and Savior. And to best do that, we must have a pure heart. Forgiving ourselves is one of the steps to make our hearts pure. In Matthew 5:8, we read “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.”

Another part of this that’s important is the witness we provide to other people. When we forgive ourselves, others will see the relief we have for releasing that burden. The things we were holding onto are no longer be holding us down. We won’t forget those things. They are part of us. And we can learn from them. We can be stronger for going through those moments. But they don’t need to define us. They don’t need to keep us from feeling the grace we receive from God. They don’t need to keep our hearts from being pure. So today, let’s not let them. If you haven’t done so, forgive yourself. Release yourself. Let go of those things that are keeping you down. Pray to God to help you do so. He will. Because he loves you. 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. Reread today’s verse and you’ll see what I’m talking about. 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 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 enough. So he joined Barbara back at the farmhouse. 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.

One of the most amazing blessings of Charlie 22 Outdoors, is keeping in touch with the veterans that we get to meet. We get to hear about their successes. We also get to pray over them during their struggles. Recently, I got to speak with one of the veterans that we met a couple years ago. Without going into great detail, not to long ago he was in a bad spot. Emotionally and spiritually. We put the word out to our prayer warriors to mount up. And boy did they ever. And the turnaround has been incredible.

As we were talking, he said this to me: “I had to go through what I went through, to get to where I am.” Read that again. And maybe read it again. And again. And again. So powerful. So profound. But so spot on. He is absolutely right. Sometimes we go through trials and struggles. Sometimes those moments are more severe and disheartening than other times. Sometimes they seem hopeless and beyond repair.

But, as tough as those times are, if we handle them correctly, we come out stronger on the back end. We come out closer to God. We come out with a testimony that others can learn from as well. And that is exactly what has happened with this veteran. He is working on continuing to improve. It has been incredible. I was blessed to get to hear this firsthand. God has a plan. A plan for all of us. Sometimes during that plan, we get sidetracked. We lose sight of what is important. We get in the way of the plan. We get in the way of ourselves. I know I do that sometimes. But even though we mess things up, God never waivers. Never changes. And he is always there for us. His heart breaks when we lose focus. But his heart also rejoices whenever we persevere through it. Because he loves us. He always has. He always will.

Something that I find interesting and incredible is that our Lord and Savior can relate to us. He understands us and what we are going through. You might question this though. You might wonder how it’s possible God can relate to us. It’s simple really. Because when God came to earth in human form as Jesus, he was tempted in every way, just as we are. That’s why he understands. He gets us. He knows the struggles of being human. Yet…He did not sin.

When God became human, he went through pain and suffering. He knew that was coming. He experienced every aspect of human life. And yet he still chose to come to earth. With Jesus, we have someone who can empathize with our struggles. We have someone who’s always ready for us. Who’s willing to walk through our struggles with us. Pretty amazing.

So today, let’s be honest with ourselves. Let’s humble ourselves as we give our burdens to Jesus. Then we will experience growth and healing. This holiday season, let’s remember that we don’t have to face life alone. Let’s celebrate Jesus’s birth knowing that he is faithful. He is near us. He walked among us. He is in us. He gets us. He has the answers. He has ALL of the answers. Let’s be grateful that Jesus loves us. He always has. He always will.

Every morning, Barbara and I pray together. We pray for wisdom. We pray prayers of thanks. We pray for opportunities to be the light to those who don’t know Jesus. And I try to pray over her safety for the day. One of the most amazing blessings that I believe we have, is the ability to pray to our God. Our ability to communicate with him our needs. Our desires. Even though he knows our hearts, he wants to hear from us. I think it is because when we express these things to him, it’s our way of showing to him our desire to have him lead us.

The Bible tells us that we will receive if we just ask. That we will find what we seek. That the door will open if we knock. Basically, this tells us that our God will provide if we believe. It’s not telling us that we will have all of our hearts desires if we ask God for those. That is not how he works. But he will provide what we need. Even though we may not agree with it. Or look at it like we need it. But we must trust that he knows what is best for us.

So don’t just pray casually. Don’t just pray to pray. Be sure to pray wholeheartedly. And be sure to pray trusting that God hears you. Because he does. But let me warn you this, be careful what you pray for. Because the answer may not be what you want or expect. I remember a time when I prayed that I could suffer for my son so he could thrive. He was just a young boy then. And let me tell you, for about two months I was in constant pain. Didn’t realize why. And then I remembered my prayers. While my son was recovering and doing very well. I was suffering. God had answered my prayers. Because he loves me. Just as he loves you. He always has. Always will.