WEEKLY THOUGHTS...

October 18, 2009

LOVE is a four letter word. In the English language it may well be the most misused and least understood of all the words we most commonly use in everyday language.

Think about it. We say that we love chocolate, our spouse, the sunrise, our dog, Chinese food, a special pair of shoes, our children and the color blue. We use that word LOVE to describe all those different kinds of attachments. Surely we love our children more than Chocolate or our favorite pair of shoes. The Greek language has 5 different words for love. One means brotherly love, another sexual love and so on. The highest form of love in the Greek language was AGAPE love. The closest meaning we can capture in the English language for that kind of love is: SELF SACRIFICING LOVE. It is the type of love that Jesus showed for us at the cross. He willingly sacrificed His life to give life to us.

Jesus commands that we show that kind of love to one another in John 13:34 "A new command I give you; love one another, as I have loved you, so must you love one another." When we define Love as selfless acts it brings the true meaning into prospective. Love is an easy word to say but a hard word to live out.

All people are hard to love sometimes and some people are hard to love nearly all the time. With that said we the love we are to live out toward one another is without prequalification. Jesus loves us in our most unlovable state and expects that we do so for one another. The good news is that He fills our hearts with Agape love so that we can love those around us.

The world around you is looking for real love. The kind of love that makes sacrifices and makes a difference. Go show them!

HOW TO FORGIVE OTHERS...

Everyone of us has been wounded by someone close to us. In some instances the wounds are so deep so abusive as to have altered the nature of our person hood. As we seek to recover we often see those who harmed us as having escaped suffering, while we have had to deal with the awful hurt. That makes it seem impossible to forgive. Our nature wants the offender to hurt as much or more than we have.

The truth is as long as we hold our offenders as captive to our revenge we remain the victim and open ourselves to roots of bitterness that will eventually strangle our soul. We become imprisoned to a life of misstrust, suspicion and shallow relationships. We do not open our hearts for fear they will be crushed again. One cannot LIVE this way only exist.

In order to embrace life again we must forgive.

"You must make allowance for each others faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others. (Col. 3:13)" New living translation

So where do we begin in order to forgive? The first step may well be to forgive yourself. Victims often blame themselves for the abuse they suffer even when it clearly it was impossible for them to avoid. Start with the understanding that all people wound and hurt other people. Hurt people will Hurt people. We have all been victims.

The real key to forgiving other is in accepting the forgiveness we have in Christ and offering it as a gift to those who hurt us. In Christ we are not only forgiven but scripture tells us that God also forgets our sins. At first glance forgetting deep seeded wounds seems impossible.

We have spent years Repeating the wounds, Rehearsing them and Reliving them to ourselves and others. The above formula should be familiar to all of us. It is the formula we have used all our lives to help with memorization and study. While in school we prepared for tests by Repeating, Rehearsing, and Reliving what we had been taught.

To begin our journey toward forgetting we have to stop using the formula:

1. Stop Repeating: Do not retell this story or hurt.

2. Stop Rehearsing: Do not act out the events.

3. Stop Reliving: Visualization is a powerful memorization tool but it can be our enemy as we rewind the film of our hurt and replay it over and over in our minds.

Ask God to help you forgive. It takes His divine power to heal us and fill us with the grace we need to forgive these deep wounds.

He forgives me..

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities" the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Forgiveness! "It was not the nails that kept him on the Cross it was love" (Tommy Walker) When I was in Bible school I joined a group that traveled and sang across Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. One of the songs we sang was titled "Born Again". It highlighted the new life that begins in Christ as we accept His forgiveness and make Him leader of our life. It is as if we have been born again.

In the passage above there are three important theological words: Transgressions, Iniquities, Chastisement.

Transgression is when one violates the law, whither knowingly or in ignorance. In this case it sets one in opposition to God or against God's Laws. The transgressor finds themselves on the side of self interest, selfishness, seeking personal comfort rather than sacrifice.

Iniquities: Gross Immorality or injustice, wickedness. Continual, wilful transgression against the laws of God opens one up to a corrupting of the soul that seeks to put oneself on the highest throne of earth. In order to do that there one must sear his natural conscience so that empathy and compassion are all but gone. Instead of mercy, one offers quid pro Que. Rather than offer fairness one would offer a lesser seat at the table to those who do not war against his self imposed kingship. Wickedness is viewed as an means to an end.

Chastisement: to be berated, beaten down, humiliated. to punish as by beating. This word is descriptive of the price paid for forgiveness. Jesus was beaten and hung on a cross. The cost of sin is death and Jesus paid it for us. He willingly left the spender of heaven to come to earth to die for you and me.

Our challenge is to LIVE for HIM. Have a blessed week.

Alan Kirkpatrick

www.alanmaz1@earthlink.net

www.activerain.com/alanmaz