Forgiving those who have hurt us........

How do we forgive those who have hurt us?  Odds are that when you read that line, someone’s name immediately came to mind.  There was something they did to you in the past that is still fresh and raw and painful.  Someone has wounded you, lied to you, taken advantage of you and that wound is very fresh.

Let me say this right up front:  Anytime I talk about this I get some push back.  I get, “Chuck, listen, you don't know what so and so did to me. You're going to tell me that I'm supposed to forgive, but you don't know what so and so did to me.”  And the truth is, I don't know.  But here’s what I do know:  If you really want to move past your past, if you really want to get the past to release it’s grip on you, you have to decide to forgive.

Jesus made a statement that speaks to this issue.  A doctor named Luke wrote down an account of the events of Jesus’ life and he recorded what Jesus said:  What is impossible with men is possible with God.  (Luke 18:27, NIV)

Let’s start with the why.  Why in the world should I forgive someone who hurt me or hurt someone I love?  2 reasons.  First:

Because unforgiveness hurts me.

For some reason we have the idea that when we don’t forgive someone else that we’re hurting them.  We’re getting even with them.  But that doesn’t make any sense at all.  They’re the ones who did the hurting, do you think they really care if you forgive them or not?  No.  They don’t.  So when we don’t forgive someone else, it doesn’t hurt them, it hurts us.  The writer to the Hebrews said:  Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.  (Hebrews 12:15b, NLT)

Many people have learned to function with a grudge.  But Scripture says that love keeps no records of wrong, but bitterness keeps detailed records doesn't it?  Unforgiveness is like grabbing broken glass and squeezing it in our hands, it hurts us.  Here’s the 2nd reason we must forgive:

Because I will need forgiveness again.

It would be great if we were to repent of our sins and ask God for His forgiveness and that was it......forever.  But the problem is, we’re human.  Even though our sins are forgiven, we aren’t perfect so we will sin again.  So every one of us, regardless of who we are, will need forgiveness again.  Here’s what Jesus said:  “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”  (Matthew 6:14-15, NLT)

We can shrug that off and say, “It’s not a big deal” all day long, but it is a big deal.  It’s a huge deal.  I don’t know if you’ve caught on to this yet, but forgiveness doesn’t benefit the person being forgiven, it benefits the person doing the forgiving.  Forgiveness doesn’t benefit the person or the people who wronged you, it benefits you!  It removes the poison from your heart, and opens the door to receive God’s forgiveness again, and not matter how you look at it, both of those are winning situations!

It’s not enough to know why we should forgive, it’s also helpful to know how to forgive.  Here we go:

I first need to pray.

Start with prayer and pray for those that hurt you.  Some of you are thinking, “I’ve been praying but God still hasn’t given them hemorrhoids or struck them with lightning!”  That’s not the kind of prayer I’m talking about.  I’m talking about praying for them like Jesus.  While He was on the cross......beaten, bloody, bruised and dying, Jesus said something.  As He was hanging there He looked up to Heaven and said:  “Father, forgive them.”  (Luke 23:34, NLT)

Right as they were hurting Him He prayed.  So just start and pray.  I’m not going to tell you this will be easy, and I don't want to minimize the pain, but you start there and God can start to do a work in your heart.   Start with prayer.  Here’s the second step:

Forgive as you have been forgiven.

Forgive the same way God forgave you.  “But Chuck, I’m not God.”  Of course you’re not God.  If you were God you would have forgiven long ago.  I know you’re not God, but we need to forgive in the same way He forgives.  In the New Testament we have a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote the church in the city of Colossai because, apparently, they were having some issues with forgiveness too.  So here’s what He wrote to them:  Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.  (Colossians 3:13, NLT)

Cut people some slack.  You like it when people cut you some slack, don’t you?  When you get pulled over for doing 78 in a 70, do you want a ticket, or do you want some slack?  When you’re in a hurry and you didn’t come to a complete stop, do you want a ticket or do you want a break?  Paul says, “Hey!  People have faults.  Give ‘em a break.  Make allowance for that.”  And no, it might not be easy, it might not be clean, there might still be some mess, you still might have to hang in there and work through some things.  There might even be some pain on the other side, but hang in there, bear with them.

God forgave you and me of this huge debt of sin, and He calls on us to forgive the offences that others commit against us.  Why?  Because forgiven people forgive people.

That's what we do.  I’m forgiven by Christ and didn’t deserve His grace, therefore because I belong to Him, I offer the same forgiveness that's been given to me.

Fan? or Follower?

Jesus was never impressed by the size of this crowd, it’s the commitment level that He cares about.  When I consider churches today, including LifePoint, I have a concern that there’s at least the possibility that instead of a community of followers we’re nothing more than a stadium full of fans.  We may wear a cross, but we don’t bear the cross.  You can come to church, wearing our, “I Love My Church” apparel, know all the songs, open your Bible and take notes, walk out to your car with a Jesus fish on the bumper and say grace before lunch, but that doesn’t necessarily make you a follower.

What makes this possible - and actually prevalent in many churches - is the fact that so many Christians confuse knowing about Jesus with knowing Jesus.  But there’s a difference between knowledge and intimacy.  I grew up, like a lot of you, thinking it was my knowledge and my good behavior that made me a follower.  I loved Jesus and I knew a lot about Jesus, but I didn’t know Jesus. I wasn’t talking to Him about my day.  I wasn’t listening for Him to speak into my life.

There are many Christians who don’t mind Jesus once a week on Sunday.  We don’t mind making some minor change in our lives but Jesus wants to turn our lives upside down.  We want Him to do a little touch up work, but Jesus wants complete renovation.  We come thinking we need a tune-up, but Jesus is thinking overhaul.  We think just a little makeup is what we need and Jesus is thinking makeover.

It’s only when we let Jesus interfere with our lives that we find real life.

Jesus didn’t come to this earth so that we would be better behaved or to tweak our personality or fine-tune our manners or smooth out our rough spots.  He wants total transformation.  The objective of the Gospel isn’t to make us well-behaved people, but to turn our lives upside down.  Here’s what it looks like:

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.  (Luke 9:23, NLT)

Jesus says that if we want to follow Him we must turn from our selfish ways and take up our cross daily.

Legislative Prayer 3-25-2014

On Tuesday, March 25, 2014, I had the privilege of leading prayer before both houses of the Iowa Legislature.  Many thanks to State Representative, Rob Taylor and Senator Amy Sinclair for their invitation and their confidence in me.  Below is the text of my prayer:


Thank you Mr. Speaker (Madame President in the Senate).

May I pray for you this morning?

God, I want to thank You for each individual in this room.  From the clerks to the custodians to the recorders to the lawmakers, every individual here is of immense worth and value to You.  You clearly demonstrated that when You gave Your only Son to pay the price for the sins of all mankind - including me and each individual hearing my voice. 

These women and men who serve carry a great responsibility, having sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and of the State of Iowa.  They have further sworn to faithfully discharge their duties in their respective chambers.  And while it’s foolish to think that the decisions made today will please every citizen of this great state, I ask You to grant wisdom so that every decision made would resonate with You and be made in accordance with Your desires for our very lives.  I don’t know the items on the agenda, but I’m confident that before the day is through there will be some difficult decisions made.  I simply ask You to guide these leaders through the process of making those decisions.

Because some of the decisions made in these hallowed chambers are unpopular, the people gathered here take a lot of heat. I realize that they signed up for it when they ran for office, but their families also take a lot of abuse in verbal and written form.  So I ask You to strengthen each one here, and their families:  to protect these lawmakers and the ones they love from the negative comments and vitriol that others might choose to send their way.  Bless them with strength, health, peace and guidance.

I ask You to guide each Member beyond their failures, their sins and their humanity as they humbly lay down their differences and work together for the common good of all Iowans, even as Your Son laid down His life for us.  May the decisions made this day and throughout this session serve the under-served, care for the disenfranchised and fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. 

Bless and protect these servants, Governor Branstad, Lieutenant Governor Reynolds, their families and all those they love and care for.  Please pour Your blessings on the United States of America, and this, the great state of Iowa.

I ask these things of You, great God and giver of all good things, in the name of Your Son, Jesus.  Amen

This Journey Called, "Faith"

Faith is a journey, not a destination.  It’s not like we trust in Jesus and then everything about life is perfect.  It doesn’t work that way.  Putting our faith in Christ doesn't make us perfect.  It makes us forgiven.  And it starts us on this journey of faith.

I think that’s why Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again.  When we’re born we're a blank slate.  We begin learning and growing.  We make mistakes - a lot of them.  But we eventually get to the place where the mistakes are fewer and wisdom grows and we move forward on the journey of life.  And the same thing happens when we’re born again.  We aren’t made perfect, but we do begin a journey of learning and growing and watching God do some pretty incredible things in our lives.  As time goes on the mistakes become fewer and the victories come more frequently.  And the journey of faith continues.

So stay on the journey........where you’re going is worth it!

You Were Made For Relationships

God is all about relationships.  When sin began in the Garden of Eden it broke the relationship between God and man and it broke God’s heart.  That’s why Jesus came, so the relationship could be restored.  But God’s not just interested in us having a relationship with Him, He also wants us to have healthy relationships with each other.  For God, relationships are a pretty big deal.  Most problems in life are relational problems because you and I are wired for relationships, and when the wires get crossed there are problems.

We don’t usually think about it this way, but God has hardwired all of us desire relationships.  In every cell of your body, in your DNA, God created you and me to value relationships.  It’s part of His design.  You and I work best when we have a relationship with God that’s working and then we have a relationship with others – in that order.  A religious leader came to Jesus one day and asked Him which was the greatest commandment.  Here’s what Jesus said:

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39, NLT)

Jesus took all of the commands from the Law and capsulized them into 2 commands: Love God, Love people.  It’s not that there isn’t more we need to know and learn, but Jesus said that these two things are the top priority.  Why?  Because God is all about relationships; our relationship with Him and our relationships with people.  Here’s what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus:

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.  (Ephesians 1:5, NLT)

When God created you and me, it gave Him great pleasure because God is all about relationships.  And when we have a relationship with Him and right relationships with one another it makes Him happy.  No one wants to go through life alone - we want to go with others.  We want to share the good things that happen, and if something bad happens we don’t want to be alone.  The reason for that is, God created you and me to be in relationship.