Feelings of Forgiveness

Feelings. They can blind us, lead us astray, overwhelm us, color our vision so we cannot see truth. Emotions are inescapable; they are part of us. Do you remember first falling in love? The feeling is so overwhelming you cannot think straight. No matter what the object of your love says or does, they are idolized.

When we are captured by Jesus' love, what He says deserves belief. He is an object of love worthy of worship. He speaks truth to us about who we are. He tells us we are forgiven, even when we don't feel forgiven. The sin in our life, revealed through the truth of the God's word, reminds us we are sinners. We can use that truth to beat ourselves up over and over. Satan whispers it to us to get us to a point where we want to reject Jesus' gifts to us. Sometimes others, including preachers, use it to try to shame us into obedience.

The truth is Jesus has forgiven you. You can trust what Jesus tells you.

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26, ESV

"Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter" Mark 3, ESV

And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Luke 7, ESV

I am writing to you, little children,because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. 1 John 2, ESV

No Way Around Jesus

Any doctrine that says you can go around Jesus for salvation is not a theology of the cross. Salvation is only found by going through Jesus. We cannot avoid the Human-God's life; His bloody, violent death; nor His glorious resurrection, and find salvation. We must go through Him.

So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. John 10, NASB

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14, NASB

Anything different from what is revealed to us from Holy Scripture is false. False teaching damages people by teaching doubt of God's Word, then doubt upon those who teach truth. It places a person in a precarious place of unfaith. There are trust issues that cloud the vision of people that have been under false teaching.

To reject the death and resurrection of Jesus is a false teaching sown by Satan. Not all religions have Jesus, but they all contain a tinge of truth. The truth they share is usually from God's law. Do not lie, do not murder, do not steal, and more, are clear to non-Christians. What is evident to unbelievers belongs to the second table of the law, or how we treat one another. The difference between the Christian religion and non Christian religion lies in the First Table of the Law.

What is in the first table of the law is God's revelation about His character. Those are the things we do not see that we violate except as shown to us by The Holy Spirit. This would include knowing the person and work of Christ Jesus.

No, we cannot go around Jesus, the God-Man, and His perfect life; His bloody, violent death; and His glorious resurrection for our sake. To deny those things is saying you do not think you need forgiveness, because forgiveness can only be found in Jesus Christ, our only savior.

dieciséis

San Francisco beckons. Driving behind a zig zagging highway patrol car, broken honda on the embankment. Turning heads, passing the disaster, resuming speed limit. Flintstone house burnt orange. Wishing to see the inside and meet the owners. Onward, Father Serra points us.

The Park. Full of heady sights, sounds, and smells. Foxglove, mock orange, pink toddlers twirling in a field of white flowers, grass, rain, umbrellas, taxis, rhododendrons, people, vistas, planking, elevators, trees, sailboats, golden gate bridge, whitecaps, frisbees, picnic, raspberries, de Young, sphinx, bagels, laughter, smiles, bing cherries. Planking for three hundred photographs. Yes planking.

Japanese Tea Garden. Green tea with brown rice, warm. Ah, relief from drizzle and drain. Sunrays spotted. Friendly waiter. Mochi melts. Ducks on the water. Blossomless cherry trees. Year of the Rabbit. In more ways than one, year of the rabbit.

Talent Show of Harbor High. 7:30 curtain. Avoiding the rain, waiting for doors to open. Mother and daughter huddle, small umbrella. Larry in Idaho. Awaiting his return patiently, praying for safety and peace. Good talent. One singular student guitaring while singing of Jesus. Impressed with bravery.

Sunday church and sleep. Choir. Recovering. Rest. Rabbit. Michante.

Monday is it! Pirates, pancakes, popcorn. Laughing, smiling, listening to stories of planking. BJ's. Good-bye quince. Unbelievable to me.

Exposed

"These people are not real" are words spoken to self-protect. I am real. Not merely words passing via a mysterious computer language. I am real. Reality lives beyond the electronic screen with words and sounds.

Fear of loss stems from one-sided requirements of a friendship. My hurts and angers cause forsakeness. Trying to keep them to myself, I cannot. They explode in my head, and then appear on the screen. Too late to backspace. They lay naked, exposed. Expect rejection.

Exclusion, non-communication, used as a bit to try to rein. The pony winces and neighs but it cries where none can hear. Rejection worked the first time. This time anger results. Hurt responds. One sided friendships are not friendships, are they?

Tears dried by ocean breezes while walking past school children playing. Tears hidden behind sunglasses, screens. They are real tears. I have real feelings. I am real. Stomach churns. Loyalty can be a weapon used against me. Grief stricken.

My friend, my friend, what does thou require of me? Whatever it is, it is law and unreachable.

"What is wrong, sis?" A friend listens to my anger, in spite of struggles. "Your sins are forgiven in Jesus."

Tears flow.

Rivers

"Mom, why are you and Daddy able to forgive me and not only me, but my friends, when their own parents don't?"

Wow. What a question for a parent to hear from their teenager! Aren't car rides wonderful things? A place for people to not make eye contact, but have the most heartfelt of conversations. This was a door flung wide open with horses out in the yard in bright daylight. In that one question I could see into our daughter's thoughtfulness, her friends' lives, and an opportunity for a much bigger conversation.

Christians understand forgiveness because we know that we are forgiven. Our friends who do not know Jesus, do not understand true forgiveness. The forgiveness that Jesus provides is free flowing, like a mountain river after the winters' snow melts, it is overwhelming. Our friends that have not heard about Jesus' and all He has done for us do not know that free flowing forgiveness that has no requirements attached to it.

When friends see that forgiveness flowing from us, they may ask about it, and it turns into a wonderful opportunity to tell them about the forgiveness they have in Jesus. He has placed no requirements at all on that forgiveness, it is already there for them and for us. It takes us, or another person, to tell them this happy news so that they are able to see the forgiveness.

May the peace of the Lord be with you!

Seeds of the Atonement of Jesus

And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." Mark 4

In this tiny parable, Jesus tells us that the Good News of salvation is to be spread without a care as to who hears it. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that produces the faith in us. We hear the good news of forgiveness of sin, and we believe.

We cannot explain how it happens as we are not told how. In fact, in this little parable it says the man that scatters seed does not know how it happens, and that the earth produces by itself. It is the Holy Spirit using the Gospel that does the work.

And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." John 12

In this parable, Jesus speaks of his own death, burial, and resurrection. It is He that bears fruit, it is He that brings us life. We are the fruit that Jesus has borne. It is because of Father's great love for us that Jesus fell into the earth and died. After three days in the earth, He rose to life. We have heard the gospel, it has killed our old man, and raised up the creature of faith.

Happy Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed!

http://fivepintlutheran.blogspot.com/2011/04/jesus-our-mercy-seat.html
http://luthermatic.blogspot.com/2011/04/cross-and-idolatry_22.html

Forgiveness

The gospel is the good news that your sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus. There is nothing to add on to that good news. Not even a "if you repent". Our forgiveness does not depend on our reaction to it. It already is. We are forgiven.