Forgive Us Our Debts

Wonderful request, isn’t it?  I have to tell you, one of my passions is God’s grace and mercy.  Without that, I would be nothing… none of us would stand a chance!  If the Apostle Paul could assert that he is the worst of sinners, then how could any of us stand a chance at an eternity with God?  Only by His grace and mercy do we have any hope!

Here’s the not-quite-as-cool part, though… the prayer doesn’t stop with that request.  It goes on.  Forgive us our debts… as we forgive our debtors!  What?! Really?!  Here we go with that whole plank in the eye thing again, right?

So!  What’s on my agenda today?  I’m going to sort through the cavities of my heart, and I’m going to pray for the ones who have hurt me.  And the ones that still sting?  I’m going to tell God that it stings… that I don’t want to “feel better” about it… and that I need Him to give me a righteous anger or none at all…

I’m going to ask Him to help me forgive them, because what they have done to me is NOTHING compared to what I have done to Him!

By: Amber Lea

Motley Crew

Have you ever paid attention to what Jesus did before he chose His apostles?  He spent the night in prayer.  He withdrew from friends, family, and obligations, and He sought wisdom in choosing the group that would become His most intimate friends.  He had come to give His life to save our own, and He needed His Father’s wisdom and discernment to choose those who would walk this road with Him, share His ministry, know Him, and carry His message on after He was gone.  Prayer seems like such an obvious thing to do.  But is that what we do?  And if it is, do we do it with the same commitment?  Do we pray for minutes or for hours?  Do we say a quick prayer as we drive home from work, or do we leave friends and family so we can truly be alone with our Father?

So, what wisdom did He get?  Who did He choose?

Simon (Peter) – the optimist who had a hard time “getting it.”  He denied knowing Christ, yet went on to write two epistles.

Andrew – Andrew was also a fisherman.  We don’t know much about Andrew’s character, other than that he was the one who brought his brother, Simon Peter, to Jesus.

James and John – they were known as “sons of thunder” because they had a fiery nature.  Yet John was considered to be the “one that Jesus loved,” and he was the one who received Christ’s Revelation of the end times.  And James was the first apostle to be martyred.

Philip – Phillip was the apostle who tried to look at the logistics of finance when Jesus was about to perform a miracle in feeding the five thousand.  He didn’t always grasp Jesus’ meaning during His ministry on earth, but he did long to see the Father.

Bartholomew (or Nathanael) – he was the one who wondered if any good could come from Nazareth.  Yet he was one of the six whom Christ visited at the sea after His resurrection.

Matthew – he was a tax collector who offered his services to the Roman government.

Thomas – he was the pessimist whose actions were often based on his fears of losing his Master.  Known as “doubting Thomas,” his expectation of evil made it hard sometimes to see the good that surrounded him.  Yet when he found out Christ was risen, his reaction was tender and compassionate, crying “My Lord and my God!”

James – we do not know much about this apostle, but it is presumed that his was the mother, Mary, who stood beneath the cross as Christ breathed His last.

Simon the zealot – by the title alone we can assume that he was formerly a Zealot, a party that publicly rebelled against the government.

Judas (Thaddaeus) – again, we do not know much about this apostle, but can assume from John 14 that he wanted Jesus to “show himself into the world,” which could be translated as getting him into the limelight.

Judas Iscariot – we all know that this was the apostle who betrayed Jesus.

These twelve men had different backgrounds and temperaments.  Some were unknown, some were leaving rebel groups, and some were leaving despised professions.  But Christ was able to take these men and make an intimate family out of them.  He loved them, was tender and compassionate with them, and the evening before He was betrayed, prayed to His Father:

I am praying for them.  I am not praying for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.  All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.  Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as we are one.  Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.  As You sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  Ad for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Through the Roof

Okay, so if you know me, you know that one of my biggest pet peeves are people who prescribe what a Christian’s life should look like.  Nothing hits the center of my not-so-funny bone faster than the Christian who looks at their happy life and decides that that is what every Christian’s life should look like… and if it doesn’t, then they must be struggling with some sort of sin.

When you work in ministry long enough (I can, of course, say this after my less than two years experience) you begin to see women who judge other women’s marriages because it doesn’t mirror their own.  One woman has decided to be a stay-at-home mom who has joined the carpool group and is a room mom and puts a homemade meal on the table every night and then hand washes the dishes before she puts the children down for the night and then devotes the next three hours to hanging on her husband’s every word.  That is great!  But what isn’t so great is when she looks at her friend, who goes to work five days a week and sometimes swings through KFC for dinner for the family.  Her family may eat at the table, or they may eat in front of the TV, and then they go off and maybe work a little more from home, or maybe one takes a nap while the other one reads.  That’s a great family, as well!  The thing is, what makes a great family is when it is full of God-loving people who love each other.  It will most assuredly look different in your house than it does in mine.  The problem comes in when Mrs. Suzie Homemaker looks at Mrs. Busy Bee and says that because one marriage doesn’t mirror the other, they must be having problems.  There is NO TRUTH to that!

I was reading in my morning devotions about the four friends who carried their paralytic friend to the house where Jesus was.  Discouraged by the crowds, they then climbed to the roof of the house and lowered him down through the ceiling.  We read in Job about his friends giving him all sorts of advice when his life was falling apart… about how they were so positive that there must be sin in his life since he was so sick.  We don’t know whether these four friends had similar conversations.  Maybe they got it wrong at first, as well.  But here’s what we do know:  they saw a hurting friend.  They carried a hurting friend to the Source they knew he needed.  When trouble got in the way (the crowds), they found another way… nothing was going to keep them from getting their hurting friend to Jesus!  And then they lowered him through the roof, and they let the Master do what He needed to do.

What would I love to see in the Christian family?  A whole lot less telling each other what our lives should look like, and a whole lot more carrying the ones we love to the Savior, and letting Him tell us what our lives should look like!

Amber Lea

I Can Do This!

No you can’t!  Have you ever run into anyone who told you they didn’t need to go to church regularly?  Someone who said that church is full of hypocrites, and God is everywhere, so why do they need to go?  Or someone who said that they give and give and give to so many people during the week, Sunday is family day… and God is everywhere anyway, right?  They may read their Bible here and there, and they probably pray before dinner, but Sunday is family day.  Or there’s even the person who says that they’re just plain tired.  Maybe they’re having a hard time facing brothers and sisters at church because there is sin in their lives.  Or maybe they’ve been hurt by someone sitting three pews down.  Or maybe their kids are whiny because it’s been a crazy week, so they’re just taking the day off.

I’m not against family days, and I’m not against needing rest.  I am against the arrogance behind the “I can do it myself” attitude.  I’m against skipping church as an excuse to avoid conflict or conviction.  I’m against thinking we have all that we need outside of church, with just a Bible and leading good lives.  Luke 4:16 says “And He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.  And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read.”  If Jesus Christ, who led the perfect life with the perfect ministry and the perfect intimacy with God found it necessary to fellowship with brothers and sisters on the Sabbath, then who are we to say we don’t need it.  If Jesus Christ found reading the Scriptures a vital part of His livelihood, then why should we be above it?

Spend time with family… take breaks as your body calls for them… but if you think you can live this life on your own… you’re wrong!  We need fellowship.  We need time alone with God, time in His Word, and time in prayer.  And we need to be part of the body of Christ!