Friday, September 21, 2012

Losing...

I read this devotional this morning from Tenth Ave. North and wanted to share it. All credit goes to them. It is really good.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why forgiveness is so hard? Seriously. It's such a pleasant ideal in theory, but in practice it's the quite possibly the hardest thing to do on the planet. Why does it seem so down right impossible? Why does it feel like losing?
Well, I guess that's because it is. To forgive someone you do have to lose. Whenever there's injury, someone has to live with the pain, and to forgive means you accept it, and the offender goes free. Even though you're not at fault, if you're going to turn the other cheek, you have to absorb the pain so that you don't turn around and inflict the one who hurt you.
I suppose you could liken it to falling on a grenade. If you have a grenade thrown at you, you can do one of three things. You can run, but then who knows who'll end up collateral damage. You can throw it back, which I must admit is quite alluring, but that can't stop the fire from spreading, it just redirects it. There is one other thing you can do though. You can fall on it. Absorb it. Take the explosion and die the death. Let everyone around you live.
And you know, whenever we forgive there's always a death involved. Isn't there? That's why Jesus had to die for us. To let us be counted right, justice had to be paid. The bomb had to go off. But instead of throwing it back and giving us what we deserve, He wrapped His arms around us and took the hit Himself.
"He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed." -Isaiah 53:5
You see, the reason grace isn't popular or easy is because it's not cheap. To give grace costs us our right to be resentful. It robs us of our privilege to be bitter. It requires death. But friend, if Christ said to forgive the very men who drove nails through his wrists, and the same power that flung Him from the grave lives in us, then surely, surely He can give us the power to lose, so that our aggressors weapons are rendered useless. Rob your enemy of their ability to offend you, by gladly taking the full brunt of their attack. It is then, and only then, that hostility is defeated and love conquers death.
Remember who you are. Remember how you have been forgiven. You're only going to feel like you have the right to be bitter if you think you're better than them. "Oh no," we say, "I would never…" Never? Really? Remember what it cost Christ to redeem you, and may that knowledge drip down so deep in your heart that it becomes your joy to accept the cost of forgiving others.
Yeah I know it feels like losing, but it's what forgiven people do. As the old saying goes, "Hurt people, hurt people." Well, "Forgiven people, forgive people."
"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because Christ has forgiven the inexcusable in us." -C.S. Lewis

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I Gave In To Temptation...

There are times in everyone's life when the temptation to do something you know you shouldn't arises. It can happen almost anywhere at any time. It can be a slow process or can happen almost instantly. This happened to me just recently.

I was somewhere I didn't "need" to be. I was doing something I didn't "need" to be doing. And then it hit me. Temptation. I saw something I wanted, but I knew was not good for me. At first, I tried to brush it off and ignore it. Yet, no matter how hard I tried, the thought of it kept coming back and I wanted it more and more. I went back and looked at it again. The longer I looked, the more I wanted it. I started justifying reasons it was ok to get it. I deserve it. Its been a long time since I had it. I'm not really hurting anyone. No one has to know about it. None of the reasons were really valid, but they were eventually enough. I came to the place where I was willing to accept the consequences of my actions. I was willing to accept the long term bad for the temporary good. I gave in to temptation.

There is something I did not do that I should have. I never once asked Jesus to step in and help. I never thought about scripture. I never prayed. We have help available, but we must choose to reach out for it.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it. - 1 Cor. 10:13

If I would have looked for an exit, I'm sure I would have found one. But I never did. I wanted what I saw.

Always look for the exit.

In Christ,
jon walton

P.S. What was I temped by? Where was I that I should not have been when I should not have been? I was at Walmart, after MANday night, with a sweet tooth. And the Oreos just looked too good...

Friday, September 7, 2012

Actions Are Louder Than Words...

I was visiting with a friend recently who has been sick for a while. They told me other friends had offered help or for this person to come over and hang out, but they were simply unable to. "I know these other people care," they told me, "but you actually came. Thanks."

Pastor Bidwell Mindy once told me, "If you come to Africa, then you are our brother!"

Words can be a great source of comfort. They can heal, inspire, encourage, and drive someone forward. Yet words can only go so far. When we put our faith into action is when it truly becomes "real" to us.

Since we came back from Ecuador, Dan Williams and I were talking about how much a tractor would help the construction at Casa de Fe. Dan didn't let it stop with talking about it. He has set up a Facebook page to start raising funds to buy one. (Click here to like it!)

I think this is the heart of the message James was talking about:

If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.  - James 2:15-17

Don't just talk about doing something for Jesus, actually get up and do it!

In Christ,
jon walton