God

Are you burdened with the weight of unforgiveness?

English: White tulips

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For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15-15).

One weight that God does not want you to carry is the weight of unforgiveness. Yet many in the body of Christ find it difficult to forgive. Unforgiveness not only affects your spiritual growth, but it also weighs heavily on your emotional and physical well-being.

The apostle Peter, a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, and a stalwart of the early Church, struggled with the weight of unforgiveness. He hated the Gentiles. He referred to them as common and unclean. He even refused to preach the gospel to them. There is no evidence that the apostle Peter ever reconcile his differences with the Gentiles.

In the book of Matthew chapter 18:21-22, Jesus uses Peter’s struggle to teach us how to forgive. If we followed His instructions the world will be a better place:

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven

Unforgiveness is an attitude of the heart that abides outside the law of love. To walk in forgiveness is to walk in great spiritual freedom. Your heart is light when it does not carry grudge, bitterness, or resentment. To forgive does not mean that you agree with the offence that someone has committed, or that you support it in any way.

To forgive means that you choose to release the judgment you are carrying toward someone, even though that person did something that was unkind or unfair. The choice to forgive is not based on fairness or justice, but on mercy and grace. Mercy triumphs over judgment when you choose to forgive. Jesus did not carry any grudge against the people who nailed Him to the cross. Instead, He showed mercy by saying; “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

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Are you steadfast and determined to follow Christ?

Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber ...

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 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.  For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, (Hebrews 3:12-14).

The word “steadfast” is an important part of your spiritual journey. This word helps to define the condition of your heart as you travel God’s pathway.

You cannot be steadfast in your walk if you are uncertain about God and His ways. Being steadfast means that each step you take, however small or big, will be taken in confidence, dependency, and certainty in who God is and what He has said.

As a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, your walk can be steadfast, not because you are steady and consistent, but because the foundation under your feet will always remain solid, firm, sure and unshakable. You can be steadfast in your faith and your obedience because Jesus Christ’s love for you will never waver, and His promises to you will never fail.

A Prayer of the Steadfast

Lord, I thank you for your faithfulness. I thank you for the certainty of Your ways, Your Kingdom, and Your Word. I thank You that I can count on You, lean on you, trust in You, abide in You, and walk with You. I thank You that You are the foundation of my footsteps, the light upon my way, the destination I seek after, and the hope I carry in my heart.

I purpose to follow You in cheerful obedience, in singleness of focus, and in steadfastness of heart. Empower me by Your grace, oh God, to keep on keeping on doing Your will. I thank You, Lord, for the assurance that You will never change, never falter, never waver, and never turn Your love away from me.

The reason for the Cross

Jesus Christ Crucifix

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“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.“

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:1-10)

Man by himself cannot deal with his own guilt or sin problem. He must have help from the outside.

In order to forgive himself, he must have forgiveness from the one he has offended. Yet man is unworthy to ask God for forgiveness.

That then is the reason for the cross. The cross did what sacrificed lambs could not do. It erased our sins, not for a year, but for eternity. The cross did what man could not do. It granted us the right to talk with, love, and even live with God.

You can’t do that by yourself. I don’t care how many worship services you attended or good deeds you do. Your goodness is insufficient. You can’t be good enough to deserve forgiveness. Not me, not you, not anyone! The Bible states in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

And that is why you and I need a savior in Jesus Christ. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

Do you think you should blame God for anything?

English: Abraham Sees Sodom in Flames, circa 1...

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“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).

I cannot possibly put a number on how many times I have heard people of all stripes blamed God for tragic events that have occurred in their lives. It is a common practice for people to blame God for unexpected tragedy or natural disaster. Christian or secular, the question is always; why? Why did God allow this or that? Why did God send this or that? Why? Why? Why didn’t God stop this or that? Some people even attempt to use tragic events to prove there is no God.

Frankly speaking, I do not think you should blame God for anything. He is a fair and just God, and whatever He promises He will do. In the days of Noah, He promised a great flood and the flood came. In the days of Abraham, He promised to destroy Sodom and He did.

God never promised us earthquakes, and tornadoes, typhoons and tsunami. He never promised diseases—heart attack, brain tumor or cancer. He promises eternal life and eternal damnation: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (John 6:23). “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28-29).

Recently I stumbled upon a religious radio program—just in time to hear the preacher‘s comments on a friend of his whose wife was stricken with cancer. The preacher stated that his friend approached him and asks him why God allowed his wife to get cancer. His response was rather surprising! I thought he was going to say he did not know; as that would have been my choice, and the easy way out. Instead, the preacher said he told his friend that sickness and disease are not in God’s plan for us. He then quoted Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).That is reassuring? I thought to myself. I suddenly realized that all the myths and misconceptions about God are a result of lack of knowledge about God’s Word.

God is a just God; He will never do anything that He did not promise. Tragedy and disaster brings misery but misery is not in God’s blueprint for us.

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God does not look at your possession; He looks at your Heart

English: Sacred Heart

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“Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand” (Ecclesiastes 5:15).

Think for a moment about the things you own; like your house, your car, and the money you’ve saved. Think about your many assets and the stocks you’ve traded, the clothes and electronics toys you have purchased. Contrary to what some people think, there is nothing wrong about owning stuff. It is good to have stuff after all! But let me remind you that your stuff cannot save you–only Jesus can.

So while you are on your quest to owning as much stuff as you can get your hands on; bear in mind that your heavenly father says you are to: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for you treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:20).

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) It is a fact that your stuff isn’t really yours. They are loan to you; enjoy them while you can; because when you die you’ll take nothing with you. When one of the richest men in history, John D. Rockefeller, died, his accountant was asked, “How much did John D leave?” The accountant replied, “All of it.”

All that stuff is not yours, and it’s certainly not who you are. Who you are has nothing to do with the clothes you wear or the car you drive. Jesus said. “Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot” (Luke 12:15). God does not know you as the fellow with the nice suits or the woman with the big house or the kid with the new bike. God knows your heart.

Mankind looks at your earthly possession, but God looks at your heart. In the end, it is the pureness of your heart that will define you when you appear before the judgment seat. Solomon spent much of his life pursuing riches but he soon realizes that all was vanity. “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).