Forgiveness

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April 8

Tuesday, April 8th, 2025

A very common thought, especially in today’s culture where there seems to be very little boundaries, is “How much can I get away with and not get caught?” or “How much can I get away with and not pay any consequences?”  

For example, a young Christian couple gets too close and play with fire and she ends up pregnant. Horror and remorse sets in, let’s suppose, for both. They tell their parents. Decide to put the baby up for adoption (or to keep it). They repent and ask forgiveness for their sin. They are assured they have received God’s forgiveness. Does that take away the consequences of that sin? The answer is, obviously, no. She didn’t suddenly become un-pregnant. The baby didn’t miraculously disappear from her womb. The evidence of their sin will be obvious over the next 9 months or so. The forgiveness and grace of God will also be evident as she and he heal from the recklessness they exhibited.

I know that seems like an extreme example to use, but it isn’t really. All you need to do is go to 2 Samuel 11 for a real life example in the Bible. Two names: David and Bathsheba. The story is pretty well known. David sleeps with Bathsheba and she tells him she is pregnant. David takes it a step further. He has Uriah, her husband, murdered by having Joab, his general, pull back while in battle. That left Uriah unprotected. It was also supposed to give David a clear view of being with Bathsheba. But the prophet Nathan told him a story that fried David and Nathan pointed his finger at David and said, “You are the man!” David was contrite. He fasted and prayed when his son got sick and died. He wrote Psalm 51, a penitent psalm if there ever was one.

But one thing it didn’t change was Bathsheba’s pregnancy; his guilt and shame over Uriah’s death; and the prophecy that a sword will be in his family forever. It found its fulfillment in the rape of his daughter, Tamar, by her half brother, Amnon. Such ugliness from sin. And yet, David prayed and asked forgiveness. David received that and more. But the consequences!!

That same principle applies to me and you. We sin and think no one knows. After all it was done in secret. No eyes saw or witnessed it. Like the embezzler who thinks no one will find out, sin comes to roost. I guess the best thing to do is to not lay the egg to start with. God’s grace is great. God’s forgiveness is matchless. But let’s not take advantage of it nor take it for granted.  

 

March 19

Wednesday, March 19th, 2025

The book of Judges in the Old Testament is aptly named. It is about judges. Not judges as we know them-sitting behind some desk with a lawyer or two debating the merits of a case or of a person the case involves. This was a different kind of judge.

The people of Israel had promised Joshua that they would do as he had committed to: “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” That lasted…until Joshua died. In fact, immediately after Joshua’s death (recorded in Judges 2:6-9), verse 10 is pretty poignant: “After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things He had done for Israel.” Well…so much for the “As for me and my house” promise.  What is even more telling is what it says in the following verses: “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord…They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them…They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashteroth.” {Editorial interject here: this is exactly what God has warned them against! This is why God wanted them to wipe out of people as they took over the Promised Land.}

God was not going to stand by and watch that happen, so He allowed foreign nations to take His people captive. But in His mercy He heard the cries of His people and raised up leaders (judges) to lead the people out of captivity. The pattern is simple to see. Taken captive by a foreign king. Live in slavery and captivity. Cry out to God for forgiveness and relief from captivity. God raises up a judge. The judge brings freedom. As long as the judge is alive, the people know freedom. The judge dies and they return to their sin and idol worship. The Israelites taken captive again. Rinse and repeat the cycle.

The judges are not household names: Othniel. Ehud (the left-handed warrior who plunged a knife into a very fat King Eglon). Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad (a traditional farming tool, a long stick with a pointed end-and sometimes a scraper or chisel at the other end-used to spur or guide oxen while they are pulling a plow or cart). Deborah (and her sidekick Barak).  Other more well-known judges are Gideon and Samson. 

The sad part is the Israelites kept repeating the pattern-the cycle- time after time. And each time a merciful and forgiving God would come to their rescue and free them. Sound familiar? It does to me. I am them. I go from “As for me and my house” to “I am going to do this on my own.” Fortunately, God is a merciful and forgiving God who lovingly envelopes me in His arms and says, “I forgive you my son.” How about you? Do you have that kind of God?

March 6

Thursday, March 6th, 2025

“Forgive as you have been forgiven.” We hear that quite often, more often than we might like! 🙂 But whether you are a Christ-follower or not, forgiveness is one of those non-negotiables that we all must face and need to do. Last night in my Wednesday Night Conversations class we talked about the common lie we hear: “I could never forgive that person.” I would like to share with you 6 common lies we will hear when it comes to forgiveness. The main thoughts come from 9 Common Lies Christians Believe by Shane Pruitt. The editorial comments are mine. 

  1. Forgiveness means you have to forget. Think about the fallacy of this. Something bad has happened in the past or just happened to you. Does that mean you must forget what happened? There is a thing called PTSD that many military vets suffer from. I think many ordinary people do as well, especially when a traumatic event has happened.
  2. Forgiveness mean you have to be a doormat. Yeah…I’ll just let that person or others walk all over me. There comes a point where you must say, “Enough is enough.”  Some relationships are toxic and need cut off.
  3. Forgiveness means you are condoning the actions of others. “If I forgive, am I saying that what they did is okay?” No. No. And No.
  4. Forgiveness means we will be close friends again. As if… In Psalm 41 David laments the betrayal of a friend. Sometimes keeping someone at a distance or arm’s length or even removing them from your life is necessary. Can you be friends again? Possibly. But very carefully and very slowly. Nobody in their right mind will just accept a person back into their lives like it once way. But sometimes…No.
  5. Forgiveness comes from an apology. Some people feel, “Hey, I said I was sorry. That should be enough.” Apologies are not always sincere. Some are said in the heat of the moment or to salve guilt.
  6. Forgiveness is easy. And you were born under what rock? Forgiveness is neither easy nor hard. It is impossible. It is natural for us to hold feelings of bitterness, hurt, anger (to name a few). Forgiving someone can only be supernatural. It comes from God. I can tell you this: refusing to forgive and holding these feelings in is not healthy spiritually or physically.

There you have it. The only question to ask is “How are you doing in the forgiveness department?”

Burning Hearts – February 9

Friday, February 7th, 2025

We all have different battles we face. Some are mental-we struggle with depression, or suicide, or feelings of low self-worth. Some are physical-a long-standing physical battle like MS, or cancer, or chronic fatigue, or back issues. Some are social-we hate crowds so anxiety is a daily struggle, or we have this fear of rejection, of being seen as a misfit. Some are spiritual-we seem to struggle daily with distance from God, or of feeling guilty because we don’t keep a vow we made, or of a sin that keeps haunting us. But there is one battle we all face and we cannot get away from it, cannot rationalize it, nor can we “set the table right.” The struggle we all face is a 3-letter word:

S-I-N

“Sin leaves each of us guilty. The question is, ‘What will we do with our guilt?'” Paul David Tripp states in his little opening gambit from February 2nd.  The Scripture reading for this past in the Everyday Gospel Devotional and is the basis for this week’s message is Leviticus 5-23 and it is all about sin. As I have already stated, we all face it. It and the guilt that accompanies it is inescapable. In the OT Law system they had different kinds of offerings to make. We in the NT era of grace have Someone who had already made that offering for us. His name is Jesus.

We will be exploring that in depth Sunday morning. I’d like to invite you to join us in person if possible. If not, we live stream both services at 9:00 and 10:45. You can send a request to our Facebook Group at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship or view our public page at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship-Spencer, IN. You may also watch via our YouTube channel at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship. If you happen to watch, would you mind letting us know? No pressure. I promise. I look forward to hearing from  you.

February 4

Tuesday, February 4th, 2025

As I read this morning from Leviticus 11-13 during my reading through the Bible, I kept wanting to either skip past some things or to simply say, “I read this” and close my Bible. After all, no one is checking up on me. Right? I mean, who would know? Well…you know the answer to that question. 🙂

Now…in case you are not in the “read-the-Bible” mode, I’ll just tell you that Leviticus is part of a mind-numbing section of Scripture where rules, laws, and stipulations are laid down for the people to follow. I recently had someone ask me, “How in the world could they remember all of those laws and ‘eat this and don’t eat this’ or ‘don’t touch this'”? That’s a great point! The answer is: I don’t know. Leviticus 11-13 is about what they can and cannot eat, touch or get near. It is about skin diseases and what is clean and unclean and how long to be in quarantine and when to get out. See why I was looking for a way out?

Then I went back and read a couple of sentences I highlighted in Paul David Tripp’s Everyday Gospel Devotional.

“By the loving miracle of God’s grace, unclean hearts are made new and pure.” (p.42)

“Although the laws surrounding leprosy had to do with God’s lovingly and wisely protecting his people from a deadly infection, they also point to something profoundly deeper. Sin is the ultimate infection. No one escapes this disease.  {My note: Romans 3:23 shows us that}. It separates us all from our Maker. It cries out for the ultimate cure, one only the Messiah can provide.” (p.43)

Psalm 69:5-6 is rather poignant: “O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you. Don’t let those who trust in you be ashamed because of me. O Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies, Don’t let me cause them to be humiliated, O God of Israel.” (NLT)  What a difference our lives would make if that verse was a daily prayer. The stain of sin won’t just go away.  We can’t wish it away, hope it away, dream it away, fantasize it away, speak it away, sleep it away, or pretend it away. It is humanly unremovable and can only be taken away by an act of grace. 2000+ years ago that act of grace was done on a hill outside Jerusalem.

January 9

Thursday, January 9th, 2025

One of the most confusing exchanges in Genesis is the life of Jacob and Esau.  When in the womb, there was friction. In fact, Rebekah was told that there were two nations within her. When born Esau came first, but Jacob came out hanging onto his heel. That would seem to be the story of their whole lives.

Esau taking things for granted; Jacob always plotting.

Esau became a hunter; Jacob felt more at home, well…at home. Isaac loved Esau. Rebekah loved Jacob. If that doesn’t spell disaster I don’t know what does!  I’ve seen the whole divided favoritism thing play out in real life and it NEVER turns out well.

Esau takes off hunting. Jacob stays home and makes a red stew. Esau has a lousy day hunting and comes home famished. So famished he thought he would die. Jacob, always the conniver, gets his brother to give up his birthright for a pot of stew. Perhaps Esau never thought much about it again but Jacob didn’t forget. You can bet your bottom dollar on that!

Fast forward a few years and Isaac is blind. He senses the end is near so he commissions Esau to go out and kill some game, cook it, bring it to him, and he will bless him as his firstborn son. Enter Rebekah who overhears the conversation. She calls Jacob and they set up a scheme. To his credit, Jacob doesn’t seem to be totally into the scheme of tricking his father that he is Esau. But he follows through with it and while Isaac questions who is in front of him, Jacob is complicit in the lie. He receives the blessing reserved for Esau, the firstborn. When Esau returned with the game, he found out Jacob was up to his old tricks again. This time he vows revenge so Rebekah convinces Jacob to run to her brother’s. Jacob does that and if there is such a thing as “turn about is fair play” Jacob was the recipient. After working 7 years to marry Rachel, Laban tricked him into marrying Leah instead. He worked another seven years to marry Rachel. The con got conned.  (A retelling of Genesis 25:19-34; 27:1-29:35)

Did you ever wonder why some stories are in the Bible? Well…I don’t really wonder why on this. God definitely shows us through the story of Jacob that imperfect people can still fulfill His purpose. Just think about it: that is all He has anyway. 🙂  But Jacob? WOW!!

There is hope for me. True, I never cheated anyone out of a birthright or stole a blessing intended for the firstborn. (BTW: I am the oldest, but not firstborn). But I have cheated. I have connived. I have lied. I have pretended to be someone I’m not. I’ve taken advantage of people. And the list goes on. BUT I’M ALSO REDEEMED. I’m also a new creation. I’m also a child of the King. I’m also proof God is in the restoration business.

I’m thankful for the story of Jacob. It is quite revealing.

January 2

Thursday, January 2nd, 2025

One of my takeaways from the Everyday Gospel Devotion for today is the devastation that sin has. I know. I know. I already know that. I have seen it and lived it. I have experienced the devastation in my own life, enough to not be shocked by it. But that still does not stop me from sometimes doing what Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3. When confronted by God in the Garden as they hid from Him, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. Personal responsibility? What is that?

Yeah…been there done that. Worse is the denial of sin or trying to minimize it. It is so much easier to look at someone else and point a finger at their sin than for me to look inward and realize, “Oh man. I’m just as bad or worse.” The comparison game is so insidious. Their worst vs my not-so-worst.  Not a fair fight!!  But that is human nature at its “finest.” It is far easier to be more concerned about or irritated by the sin of others than my own. I was reading just yesterday about a preacher and an intern who were going to talk to a man who really messed up when the pastor asked the intern about whether he could commit that sin. The intern said, “Oh no way!” The pastor told him that he better stay away and he would go himself, because unless he realizes he could commit that same sin, he should not visit the man. I totally agree. The moment you and I think we are incapable of committing a sin is the moment we become the most vulnerable. I also remember reading about a pastor who publicly proclaimed that he would never cheat on his wife. There was a woman in the audience that day who took him up on that challenge. Needless to say, the end result was not a good one.

Minimizing sin by either not seeing its “power factor” or thinking “it would never be me” is a dangerous game to play. It immediately puts us in the crosshairs of the Hunter (our enemy, Satan) who will consider it a challenge causing us to fall.  And he will use every means possible to make that happen.  I think we can all agree that sin is real. In fact, before Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4) God warned Cain that his anger and jealousy would be his downfall. Not long after that Cain killed Abel.

The words found in Genesis 6 are frightening. It says, “God saw the wickedness in the heart of man and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” It also says that it “grieved God’s heart and He regretted that He made man on the earth.” Those are devastating words to read. The flood followed.

We can’t handle sin on our own. The best gift ever given was God’s redeeming grace. Sin loses its power when stacked against that.

January 1

Wednesday, January 1st, 2025

As I said in yesterday’s post, the chances of anyone reading this today are slim to very slim (maybe none).  In that post I commented how I had preached on Feels Like Home during the months of September and October. Earlier in the year I had read several books which gave me an idea to write something. Those books were Feels Like Home by Lee Eclov; Glad You’re Here by Walker Hayes and Craig Cooper; and Just Show Up by Drew Dyck. I was inspired reading those books and got a hair-brained idea to write something. OVCF, the church I pastor, recited it occasionally early in the year, but when I preached in September and October we did it almost weekly. It is part of our DNA. We have not recited it since the last Sunday in October but will start 2025 off by saying it together. I thought I would share it with you today:

WE’RE GLAD YOU ARE HERE!

If you are happy we want to celebrate with you.

If you are tired and need rest;

If you are hurting and need comfort;

If you have failed, feel guilt and shame and wonder if God still loves you;

If you feel you are at the end of your rope and need a lifeline;

If you think you are too great a sinner and feel hopeless;

If you are here but can’t raise your eyes, head, or hands in worship…

That’s okay. We want this to be a place where you find strength to go on. Let us pray for you, stand beside you and even carry you to God’s throne where you can find new hope.

Maybe you need to read or hear this today. You may never be able to attend OVCF or have a personal conversation with me, but I want you to know there is a God who is always available, always accessible, and will NEVER turn you away…no matter your state. May 2025 be the year of an encounter with Jesus for you. 

Guest Post-Ryan Spires

Wednesday, November 13th, 2024

It was around 2007 that I met Ryan, Amanda, Dominick, Keegan and Aleah Spires. They had moved into the area from Nashville, TN and had begun a correspondence with one of the men in the church. Chris was the administrator of our church website. After their first visit, we went to Chicago’s Pizza in Elletsville (where they were living) and a friendship began to develop that still stands today. They have moved to Martinsville, IN, about 30-40 miles away, but we still try to get together for a meal. Sometimes Ryan and I have ridden bikes together.  Dominick has recently married. Keegan has moved near Indianapolis to work. Aleah is pursuing a college degree while working at Starbucks. So their household has changed. What hasn’t changed is our friendship. In fact, we got together just this past Friday night for supper. Sadly, Texas Roadhouse was so busy the wait was 55 minutes with no parking spots available! We went just down the road to Cheddars. But the best part of the evening was the laughter we shared.

When I mentioned that I would be posting guest posts while I was rehabbing from my knee replacement surgery, Ryan submitted the following. He told me I could post it…or not. As if…

As I finished up reading Chapter 18, titled “Counted As Warriors” from Brent Henderson’s book The Roar Within, Brent provides a laundry list of emotions, feelings, and thoughts that the enemy had been shooting at him during a low time in his life.   As I read the list, I could see myself clearly writing most of the same.  I even added a few additional.  Satan likes to take the truth and twist it just enough to make it sound like it is plausible.   This is his standard operating procedure and has been that way since the garden. 

How often does he do that with me, with us?  Perhaps he twists the truth enough to believe a little white lie is not all that harmful.   Perhaps he twists the truth enough to justify our negative reaction to our spouse’s or kid’s actions.  Perhaps he twists the truth enough to make us believe that we are to worthless, too sinful, too shameful, too hurt, too broken, too <fill in the blank> to make a difference… So we stop.

The list Brent shared includes items like disappointment, worthless, divorced, unable to please. I added a few of my own: weak, unsupportive, lazy, hypocritical, numb.

I am sure we all have a list of lies we have believed or currently believing. So what do we say when we counter the lies from the enemy and shoot right back with arrows from God’s word? Jesus didn’t simply come up with some nifty self-help quotes when tempted by Satan.  He didn’t try harder, buckle down, and push forward.  He used scripture. 

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

So what should we believe?  We should believe that God loves us UNCONDITIONALLY.  I know we can rattle off the phrase that He gave His only son for us… but let us not take that lightly.   I don’t know anyone on this earth that I would sacrifice my children for.   

Because of our Father’s sacrifice, I am now a CHOSEN and ADOPTED CHILD of the Living God.  I have a purpose and a reason for being.  Not because of what I have done, but because of who God is and what HE did for me.   I have worth and value in my Father’s eyes and I must never forget that.

Good words here. It is so important for everyone of us to remember that we are important and valued in God’s sight. It is also important for us to not listen to the lies of the enemy.  Thanks Ryan for your “heart words.” Do you have something you would like to share with others on this site? I would be glad to include it during my time of recovering. 

BTW: they say Day #3 and #4 are the worst. I’ll let you know. 🙂

October 10

Thursday, October 10th, 2024

Have you ever been sitting in a chair or laying in bed and then your mind starts to wander? Not just random like a pinball, but it seems to focus in on events or circumstances of your past.  Just this morning as I was praying and trying to prepare my mind and heart for my time alone with God, off it (my mind) went to the past. It focused in on failures of my past when I behaved and spoke in a way that brought disrespect to the name of Christ.  I almost started replaying scenarios when suddenly God’s Spirit intervened and said, “No! Not now! That’s forgiven.”

Then I read about Abraham, God’s chosen man to be the father of the Jewish people. In Romans 4 Paul uses Abraham as an example of faith. In protest we might say, “Yeah. Some example of faith he was. He failed to believe God’s promise and wait, and now we have the Arab people as a result of his tryst with Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid.” Abraham even laughed in unbelief when told he would have a child in his old age (Gen. 17:17). What gives?

To borrow a phrase: “This is not a ‘spin job’ on Abraham’s life.”  It’s not a whitewash as if Abraham never sinned, never failed, or never doubted. What it is strikes us: we get to see God’s final gracious perspective of Abraham’s life. Beyond the failure. Beyond the tragic impatience. Beyond the tragic “I’m going to take this whole matter into my own hands.” Beyond the tragic “God is taking too long.”

Then it hit me. If God could take this huge act of impatience, disobedience, i.e. sin in Abraham’s life, forgive him and bring about His purpose, surely God could do that for me. That is not excusing sin-misspeaking, wrong actions, hurt feelings, totally degrading His Name, etc.- but it does show the real magnitude of His grace. The enemy’s plan is for me to wallow in shame and humiliation. God’s plan is for me to know and experience His love and grace.

I learned a good lesson today: when Satan knocks on the door, send the Holy Spirit to answer it.