For some reason we think it is easier for God to forgive than it is for us. God can forgive so easily because after all God is God and we are not. We don't forgive because we don't think we have the power to forgive, after all we're not God. To watch your son dragged through a kangaroo court, beaten, whipped, and finally nailed to a cross, wasn't easy for anyone let alone a Father known as Abba to Jesus. After all of this, for God to grant forgiveness when requested by Jesus, is mind blowing. I know too many earthly fathers who would override their son's request and take out all the perpetrators. However, since no fire from heaven reigned down upon them, you have to assume that God did forgive and the executioner's Ax was stayed mid swing.
But what about Jesus? Was it really easier for him to forgive those who had nailed him to the cross, than it is for either you or me to forgive something not quite as brutal as the cross. Yet Jesus did forgive them and they didn't even ask for it.
Part of the reason I think forgiveness is so hard is that we are mistaken about what it means to forgive. We need to know what forgiveness is not. Forgiveness is not pretending that the painful event didn't happened. When Jesus forgave those who had crucified them from the cross, it doesn't mean that Jesus was pretending that he wasn't on the cross. He is fully aware of the nails and the crown of thorns, with the warm drops of blood tracking down his face. Pretending would take one ounce of pain away. Part of the point of forgiveness is that we commit to working to behave towards this person as if it hadn't happened. It is a conscious choice we make not to let their actions against us control our response to them or towards anyone else.
Forgiveness presupposes that what happened to us- happened- to us. It was evil and cannot be set aside as if it didn't matter. It did matter. It did hurt. But in choosing to forgive we are choosing to act as if it did not happen as we consciously try to rebuild a severed relationship.In forgiving, we are always full aware of what we are trying to forgive, and yet living in relationship with them as if it didn't take place, not only for our good but also for theirs.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
To Forgive or not to Forgive?
Which is harder to forgive ourselves or to forgive others?
When questioned about how many times we are to forgive someone, seven times? Jesus answered not seven times but seventy times seven. In other words there are not limits to the amount of forgiveness we are to offer. Which is all well and good unless you're the one being asked to forgive, then rubber really hits the road. What's that saying about getting burned... So Jesus challenges us to forgive all things all the time... no limitations on what or who receives our forgiveness. Since Jesus pulled it off at the cross we have at least one example, and don't give me the of course he could do it because he is Jesus stuff. If the writer to Hebrews talks about Jesus being tempted in every just as we are yet was without sin, Heb.4:15 Jesus' saying no to temptation was not due to his divine nature, but within his human ability. His forgiveness is powered by his humanity and not his divinity.
Jesus expects us to follow his example when it comes to forgiveness.
We are to forgive others and forgive ourselves... which means that we are also to forgive ourselves seventy times seven times.If there are no limits regarding the number of times we are to forgive others, then there are no limits as to the number of times we are to give ourselves. However, if we were to forgive others the way we forgive ourselves, there is a strong possibility that others may never be forgiven.
We just seem to be able to forgive others more readily than we forgive ourselves. Some how it seems easier to let the other guy off the hook while keeping ourselves firmly impaled. I am not quite sure why. Lack of self forgiveness clearly leads to self loathing, and self incrimination, not mention sabotaging our self worth. Why someone likes to point at a personal failure, whether it is faith related or moral, and beat themselves up with it repeatedly makes no sense. Yet from the people I talk to, lack of self forgiveness is the norm not the exception. From their perspective it is easier to forgive others than it is to forgive ourselves.
Could it be that we hang on to these past failures as a fall back position in case things take a turn for the worse. We become our own scapegoat, and who wouldn't expect otherwise... It validates the worst we think of ourselves, and cancels out whatever goodness might have crept in.
Perhaps the inability to forgive ourselves is one more outworking of the story in Genesis when we chose to know for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, of who to forgive and who not to forgive- including ourselves.
Lest we be without hope- Jesus has an app for this too.
When questioned about how many times we are to forgive someone, seven times? Jesus answered not seven times but seventy times seven. In other words there are not limits to the amount of forgiveness we are to offer. Which is all well and good unless you're the one being asked to forgive, then rubber really hits the road. What's that saying about getting burned... So Jesus challenges us to forgive all things all the time... no limitations on what or who receives our forgiveness. Since Jesus pulled it off at the cross we have at least one example, and don't give me the of course he could do it because he is Jesus stuff. If the writer to Hebrews talks about Jesus being tempted in every just as we are yet was without sin, Heb.4:15 Jesus' saying no to temptation was not due to his divine nature, but within his human ability. His forgiveness is powered by his humanity and not his divinity.
Jesus expects us to follow his example when it comes to forgiveness.
We are to forgive others and forgive ourselves... which means that we are also to forgive ourselves seventy times seven times.If there are no limits regarding the number of times we are to forgive others, then there are no limits as to the number of times we are to give ourselves. However, if we were to forgive others the way we forgive ourselves, there is a strong possibility that others may never be forgiven.
We just seem to be able to forgive others more readily than we forgive ourselves. Some how it seems easier to let the other guy off the hook while keeping ourselves firmly impaled. I am not quite sure why. Lack of self forgiveness clearly leads to self loathing, and self incrimination, not mention sabotaging our self worth. Why someone likes to point at a personal failure, whether it is faith related or moral, and beat themselves up with it repeatedly makes no sense. Yet from the people I talk to, lack of self forgiveness is the norm not the exception. From their perspective it is easier to forgive others than it is to forgive ourselves.
Could it be that we hang on to these past failures as a fall back position in case things take a turn for the worse. We become our own scapegoat, and who wouldn't expect otherwise... It validates the worst we think of ourselves, and cancels out whatever goodness might have crept in.
Perhaps the inability to forgive ourselves is one more outworking of the story in Genesis when we chose to know for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, of who to forgive and who not to forgive- including ourselves.
Lest we be without hope- Jesus has an app for this too.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Is God a Micro-manager?
Is God a micro-manager? As I engage the so-called new wave of Calvinists, or the New Calvinists, the question might be, Is God a micro-manipulator, planning and controlling things since before time and eternity? Does God really plot before time and eternity the suffering of innocent children? Does God yank an arm off here, a leg there, or infect an organ with cancer, just to see how we can handle it, or for people to be amazed at our adaptability, our faith, and moral courage?
In that classic text, "You meant it for evil but God meant it for good,"Genesis 50:20
Joseph sees the providential hand of God behind the evil done to him by his brothers and others along the way. The text has the look and feel of God being the micro-manipulator. In the end,his brothers did bow before him as the original dream predicted, and the vision was fulfilled in ways and means no one would have ever dreamed possible. However, in light of the entire story, had not Joseph maintained his faithfulness, it could have ended quite differently. The false accusation by Potiphar's wife landed him in jail where he could have been angry at God, and allowed a relational distance to increase. However, Joseph chose to engage God deeper, and his spiritual gifts;dreams and the interpretation of dreams continued and were developed for further future use.
It seems to me that there is a quantum difference between orchestrating evil for good ends, and being able to bring goods ends out of undesired, unplanned, and unintended evil circumstances. The theological word for this is not providence or sovereignty, but redemption. In my personal life it goes by another name, hope.
In that classic text, "You meant it for evil but God meant it for good,"Genesis 50:20
Joseph sees the providential hand of God behind the evil done to him by his brothers and others along the way. The text has the look and feel of God being the micro-manipulator. In the end,his brothers did bow before him as the original dream predicted, and the vision was fulfilled in ways and means no one would have ever dreamed possible. However, in light of the entire story, had not Joseph maintained his faithfulness, it could have ended quite differently. The false accusation by Potiphar's wife landed him in jail where he could have been angry at God, and allowed a relational distance to increase. However, Joseph chose to engage God deeper, and his spiritual gifts;dreams and the interpretation of dreams continued and were developed for further future use.
It seems to me that there is a quantum difference between orchestrating evil for good ends, and being able to bring goods ends out of undesired, unplanned, and unintended evil circumstances. The theological word for this is not providence or sovereignty, but redemption. In my personal life it goes by another name, hope.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Freedom to Choose
H. Kushner attributes bad things happening to good people as an implication of being made in the image of God, where choice is found in the character of God. Choice is also at the heart of Wm. Paul Young's The Shack as the explanation for the presence of pain and evil. Young's approach differs from Kushner's because choice is essential to a loving relationship. God by creating beings to enter into a reciprocal love relationship created the possibility that the relationship might not be reciprocal. God took the risk of loving us knowing we might choose not love to God in return. For God to create us to only love God and others without the possibility of not loving would have us more robotic than human. Consequently it is not choice that makes us more human and better image bearers, but choice in the context of love. Anyone out on the dating circuit knows the dangers of loving someone and the possibility of not being loved or even liked in return. It is easy to see why creating humanity in God's image was a high risk move.
Having said that, having our independence and insisting on having that independence from God, we get truly angry at God for loving us enough to give us what we wanted.
What we really want God to do is not to intervene when we do the things we want to do, and love whom and the way we want to, but to jump in there and either correct our poor choices, or protect us from the consequences of someone else not loving, or their painful and evil actions. The down side of this is where does accountability lie? When things go well and we love well and are well loved, we get the credit, and when things go south relationally and other ways, God gets blamed. If God is good, and really loves us then God will or should intervene. God's failure to intervene is frequently taken as a sign of God not being good or loving.
The irony is that the possibility of pain and evil, of not loving responses is a direct consequence of God's goodness and love. It is also clear that God has more in mind than sitting back as some jilted lover, but wishes to open and deepen that relationship and correct the destructive outcomes centered in ou r unloving choices to God and to others.
Having said that, having our independence and insisting on having that independence from God, we get truly angry at God for loving us enough to give us what we wanted.
What we really want God to do is not to intervene when we do the things we want to do, and love whom and the way we want to, but to jump in there and either correct our poor choices, or protect us from the consequences of someone else not loving, or their painful and evil actions. The down side of this is where does accountability lie? When things go well and we love well and are well loved, we get the credit, and when things go south relationally and other ways, God gets blamed. If God is good, and really loves us then God will or should intervene. God's failure to intervene is frequently taken as a sign of God not being good or loving.
The irony is that the possibility of pain and evil, of not loving responses is a direct consequence of God's goodness and love. It is also clear that God has more in mind than sitting back as some jilted lover, but wishes to open and deepen that relationship and correct the destructive outcomes centered in ou r unloving choices to God and to others.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Did God Really Need Him?
"Boise Mom, I Guess God Needed Him Back." Those were the headlines on the front page of Sunday's paper. What followed was an extremely tragic story of a three year old developmentally delayed toddler who was quick on his feet, fascinated with doors, and bright lights. All three attributes contributed to him opening an unlocked door in the morning twilight, racing towards a busy street and tragically darting into the path of an unsuspecting car.
The police ruled the toddler's death an accident. The emotional damage to his mom and the driver of the car is immeasurable. I often tell people at the time of death that we get through it, but we never get over it. Acceptance of death, is a season of living with the loss without it continually destroying us.
In the mean time coping with the loss is extremely tough and sometimes so tough we that seek to console ourselves with some type of God reference. People may try to comfort us by saying something about God's purpose or plan in the tragedy. They may quote Romans 8:28,"That all things work together for the good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose," or as the Boise Mom said, "I guess God needed him back."
That a young child whose life tragically taken by an automobile, may be spending eternity with a loving God, is a comforting. The eternal destiny question is huge at times like these and it is equally important to stress the love and mercy and grace of God over some concept of sin judgment.
However I find little or no comfort in the thought that "God needed him back." My first response to that line is "For What?" What purpose or divine activity of God could not be completed without the presence of this toddler's soul? To even think that God orchestrated this tragic accident in order to gain the resources of this child, would make me want to have nothing to do with God. If the resources of this child were truly needed, if I were God I think I could have found a better way to tap them than this. I am also bothered by the concept of a needy God, but that may be the subject of another blog.
I also know during times like these that the assumption is that God should have done something. God should have intervened, but God stood by motionless, and let the convergence of a toddler's tendencies, the morning's twilight light, and a commuter going the speed limit take place. An angelic hand restraining the child till his frantic mother arrived, or a little bit faster response time with the driver swerving a split second faster, would have done it. Why didn't God do something rather than nothing? Divine interventions are extremely rare. Since we come across them in the Bible we almost assume they are to be expected. The cross still stands as the supreme symbol of God's non-intervention, a fact acknowledged by the one hung on it when he said," My God my God what have You forsaken me?"
If Jesus could still find enough strength to commend his spirit into the hands of a non-intervening God at his moment death, and given the fact that Jesus had every reason to abandon the God he felt had abandoned him but didn't, is comforting. To also know that God the Father also witnessed the convergence of forces which lead to the death of His Son is also comforting. In Jesus God both knew what it was like to be innocent and suffer under the forces of this world, and what it is like to stand and watch the innocent suffer. I too find that comforting. We may never know why God doesn't intervene more to relieve the suffering and death of innocents. We do know that it did not diminish the trust Jesus had in this God.
God did resurrect the life of Jesus,and the good news for us is that God can resurrect our life too after a tragedy. It may take longer than three days, but we can trust God to give us life back again as well.
The police ruled the toddler's death an accident. The emotional damage to his mom and the driver of the car is immeasurable. I often tell people at the time of death that we get through it, but we never get over it. Acceptance of death, is a season of living with the loss without it continually destroying us.
In the mean time coping with the loss is extremely tough and sometimes so tough we that seek to console ourselves with some type of God reference. People may try to comfort us by saying something about God's purpose or plan in the tragedy. They may quote Romans 8:28,"That all things work together for the good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose," or as the Boise Mom said, "I guess God needed him back."
That a young child whose life tragically taken by an automobile, may be spending eternity with a loving God, is a comforting. The eternal destiny question is huge at times like these and it is equally important to stress the love and mercy and grace of God over some concept of sin judgment.
However I find little or no comfort in the thought that "God needed him back." My first response to that line is "For What?" What purpose or divine activity of God could not be completed without the presence of this toddler's soul? To even think that God orchestrated this tragic accident in order to gain the resources of this child, would make me want to have nothing to do with God. If the resources of this child were truly needed, if I were God I think I could have found a better way to tap them than this. I am also bothered by the concept of a needy God, but that may be the subject of another blog.
I also know during times like these that the assumption is that God should have done something. God should have intervened, but God stood by motionless, and let the convergence of a toddler's tendencies, the morning's twilight light, and a commuter going the speed limit take place. An angelic hand restraining the child till his frantic mother arrived, or a little bit faster response time with the driver swerving a split second faster, would have done it. Why didn't God do something rather than nothing? Divine interventions are extremely rare. Since we come across them in the Bible we almost assume they are to be expected. The cross still stands as the supreme symbol of God's non-intervention, a fact acknowledged by the one hung on it when he said," My God my God what have You forsaken me?"
If Jesus could still find enough strength to commend his spirit into the hands of a non-intervening God at his moment death, and given the fact that Jesus had every reason to abandon the God he felt had abandoned him but didn't, is comforting. To also know that God the Father also witnessed the convergence of forces which lead to the death of His Son is also comforting. In Jesus God both knew what it was like to be innocent and suffer under the forces of this world, and what it is like to stand and watch the innocent suffer. I too find that comforting. We may never know why God doesn't intervene more to relieve the suffering and death of innocents. We do know that it did not diminish the trust Jesus had in this God.
God did resurrect the life of Jesus,and the good news for us is that God can resurrect our life too after a tragedy. It may take longer than three days, but we can trust God to give us life back again as well.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Angel Wings
"You had angel wings." I had never heard that expression used before, but I knew what she meant. While cycling downhill at a fairly high speed, I lost control of my bike, and crashed. The bike struck a metal reflector pole, while my body grazed it as I flipped and landed on my helmet covered head. For a fall of such magnitude I escaped with relatively few scrapes and bruises. The bike is another matter. When I told this story to a friend who works at a bike shop, she said, "You had angel wings."
In my gut I knew it could have ended quite differently. In actuality this was a near death experience, and for some reason God had preserved my life. I know a statement like that might be troubling to some, and I make it with a great deal of hesitation. I know that it sounds like God singled me out to have my life preserved, while there are others who may not have experienced the hand of God that way. I know of fellow cyclists whose lives were lost in crashes and car accidents. The whole question of why me and not others raises its head. Why I was spared the consequences of a broken imperfect world while others are not is a mystery. It is tempting to think that God has something great or special yet for me to do. I have spoken with some people who have interpreted their near death experiences that way. There are some who have used their near death experiences as a second chance at life. Tragically, I knew one person who was still wondering what great thing God had spared him for, while he died of cancer.
Whether God has something great for me yet to do, is up to God. I am still trying do what God has asked of me at this moment, and I am not egotistical enough to think that there is something far greater than what I am currently doing. Impacting lives for eternity is huge regardless of where one does it. Which brings us back to the reason God preserved my life.
It has been said that the problem with atheism is that you don't have anyone to thank. Thankfully I do.
In my gut I knew it could have ended quite differently. In actuality this was a near death experience, and for some reason God had preserved my life. I know a statement like that might be troubling to some, and I make it with a great deal of hesitation. I know that it sounds like God singled me out to have my life preserved, while there are others who may not have experienced the hand of God that way. I know of fellow cyclists whose lives were lost in crashes and car accidents. The whole question of why me and not others raises its head. Why I was spared the consequences of a broken imperfect world while others are not is a mystery. It is tempting to think that God has something great or special yet for me to do. I have spoken with some people who have interpreted their near death experiences that way. There are some who have used their near death experiences as a second chance at life. Tragically, I knew one person who was still wondering what great thing God had spared him for, while he died of cancer.
Whether God has something great for me yet to do, is up to God. I am still trying do what God has asked of me at this moment, and I am not egotistical enough to think that there is something far greater than what I am currently doing. Impacting lives for eternity is huge regardless of where one does it. Which brings us back to the reason God preserved my life.
It has been said that the problem with atheism is that you don't have anyone to thank. Thankfully I do.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Faith in the Wilderness
On a recent backpacking trip with my son, Chris, I discovered that fishing is never the same in the same spot, even using the same lures. We had fished this incredible high mountain lake in the Soldier mountain area of the Frank Church Wilderness. I was using a Panther Martin lure- bright yellow with black dots and a red feather skirt at the base near the hooks. Within a span of an hour I must have landed close to twenty fish. I took so many (and threw them back) that we jokingly said I Pantherized them. After fishing for several hours we packed up and hiked to another lake where we spent the night. The next day after bushwacking to another lake, we returned to this same lake. The water was crystal clear. You could see the trout swimming around nabbing a fly here or there. However try as I might, they would not even acknowledge the panther. Cast after cast after cast and no takers. I began using a variety of lures. I think I tried just about everything in my arsenal. The end result is that we caught only a few fish, and none of them on that yellow panther martin.
I was reminded just how fast things change. Same lake, same fish, same lure, different results. What I needed was a new lure. Something fresh, perhaps a different color scheme.
I used to write and color in my Bible a lot. I have several Bibles filled with sermon notes, Bible study insights, and quiet time reflections. I don't write or color in my Bible anymore. Things change, and change rapidly, and when they do, a note or color or an insight a year or so old may not be of any assistance. By focusing my attention towards what I had read and understood previously, it may actually hinder the word from God I need to hear from getting through to me. If every minute of every day is truly a fresh page, I found I need a fresh page of scripture, to be able to hear a fresh word.
I was reminded just how fast things change. Same lake, same fish, same lure, different results. What I needed was a new lure. Something fresh, perhaps a different color scheme.
I used to write and color in my Bible a lot. I have several Bibles filled with sermon notes, Bible study insights, and quiet time reflections. I don't write or color in my Bible anymore. Things change, and change rapidly, and when they do, a note or color or an insight a year or so old may not be of any assistance. By focusing my attention towards what I had read and understood previously, it may actually hinder the word from God I need to hear from getting through to me. If every minute of every day is truly a fresh page, I found I need a fresh page of scripture, to be able to hear a fresh word.
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