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Category: Devotion (Page 1 of 11)

Never Make a Permanent Solution to a Temporary Problem

November 20, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Life has a way of throwing us curveballs. Challenges pile up, situations feel hopeless, and the weight of it all can seem unbearable. It’s tempting to believe that what we’re facing right now will never change—that the pain, confusion, or frustration is here to stay. In moments like these, it’s easy to think about drastic solutions to problems that feel insurmountable. But I can promise you this: no matter how dark it feels, there is light ahead. Never make a permanent decision based on a temporary situation.

When life feels overwhelming, it’s hard to think clearly. Emotions cloud your mind and convince you that no one cares, no one is watching out for you, and no one understands. But let me assure you—someone does.

In John 10, Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. He says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14). This isn’t just a poetic metaphor. It’s a powerful truth. A shepherd’s job isn’t easy; it involves getting messy, walking through valleys, and being present in the middle of chaos. But the Good Shepherd never abandons His sheep. He knows each one by name. He knows their struggles. He knows their fears. He knows every one of their wounds. And He leads them with care.

You are not forgotten. Even when it feels like you’re lost in the chaos of life, Jesus knows exactly where you are. He’s walking with you, even when you can’t see Him. He’s working for your good, even when you don’t feel it. He knows the way out of every valley, no matter how deep – no matter how thick.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He doesn’t just watch over you from some far away place of safety; He calls others to join Him in caring for you. There are people in your life—family, friends, mentors, your church family, and even strangers—who care deeply about you. Sometimes, the hardest part is letting them know what you’re going through. That vulnerability can be scary, but it’s the key to experiencing the love and support that is already around you.

Problems, no matter how large they feel, are never permanent. Seasons change. Circumstances evolve. Healing happens. God’s promises remain true: “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). The night might be the longest night of your life, but morning is always on the horizon – always.

If you’re carrying a burden today, remember this: You are seen. You are known. You are loved. The Good Shepherd has not forgotten you, and He never will. He’s calling your name and inviting you to trust Him, even in the darkest valley. And He’s placed people around you who want to walk with you, support you, and remind you that there’s always hope.

Dear friends take heart. The mess of life is temporary, but the love of the Good Shepherd is eternal. Please – never make a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Love Wins…Kind Of

November 7, 2024 / / 1 Comment

We hear it everywhere: “Love wins.” It’s on T-shirts, social media, and bumper stickers. It’s a feel-good phrase, right? Just love each other, and everything will magically work out. But here’s the harsh reality: our love alone doesn’t win a thing.

Our love is conditional, selfish, and pretty pathetic. It gets tired. It gets offended. We say we’ll love unconditionally, but the second someone hurts us, or something doesn’t go our way, that so-called “unconditional” love suddenly has a lot of conditions. We fall in love as easily as we fall out of it, and we struggle to love people who challenge us. So, let’s cut the crap: if love depends on us to “win,” we’re doomed.

But here’s the twist that changes everything: Jesus’ love. Now, that love? That’s the love that wins. It’s not some mushy, feel-good sentiment. It’s radical, all-consuming, and completely unselfish. It’s a love that didn’t just say nice things but laid itself on the line—literally. Jesus gave up everything. He didn’t just love us when it was easy; He loved us when we nailed Him to a cross. His love didn’t give up when it got hard; His love didn’t turn away even when we turned away from Him. He didn’t stop loving when we lied. He kept on loving even in spite of our harsh words and unkind actions. Jesus’ love won in the only way that matters.

Think about it: Jesus’ love goes deeper than a smile or a kind word. Our love for a significant other is pathetic compared to this crazy, radical love. His love stared sin, death, and hell in the face—and it won. Our own efforts to love can’t even touch that. No amount of human effort or good intentions could win the fight against sin. We couldn’t love ourselves into God’s good graces. That’s why Jesus was essential. He did what we couldn’t do, no matter how much we loved.

When people say “love wins,” they’re often thinking of human love fixing things. They’re hoping that if we just love hard enough, the world’s problems will melt away. But here’s the cold, hard truth: without Jesus’ victory, our love accomplishes very little. Our love doesn’t heal hearts or change souls. It doesn’t break chains of sin or death. Jesus’ love does. He won that battle on the cross—one that our love couldn’t even enter.

So, what does that mean for us? Should we just stop trying to love others? Absolutely not. Jesus’ love calls us to love, but it also tells us to recognize our limits. Our love matters, but it’s not the foundation. It’s not the thing that holds eternity in place. That role belongs to Jesus’ love alone. We love others because He first loved us, but let’s not confuse the order here. We’re not the heroes of this story; we’re the ones who needed saving. Our love is the grateful response, not the game-changer.

So, next time you see “Love Wins,” take a moment to think about who made that possible. Let it remind you of the power, depth, and sacrifice of Jesus’ love, the only love that truly won. Without Him, our love is merely a shadow. With Him, our love has purpose.

That Kind of Sucks

November 4, 2024 / / 0 Comments

James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” In the words of a friend from my small group “Now, that kind of sucks, doesn’t it?” Imagine working hard all week to keep your room clean, finish your homework, and stay on top of everything, only to fail by not taking out the trash. According to this, your whole week is ruined, shot, a total failure, like it was all for nothing.

That’s the image we get of how the law works from this verse. We can strive to keep it perfectly, and honestly we can be rocking it for a good little bit. But if we break just one small part, we’re guilty of breaking the whole thing. That means if you’ve done a bang up job following Jesus. I mean reading the Bible, going to church, giving that perfect tithe off your income, keeping your language clean, discipling a group from work. Then your child leaves a lego on the floor in the living room, and you get up early in the morning. Yeah you know where this is going. You stop on that little grenade of pain buried in your carpet. The pain shoots through your body like a jolt of electricity, and a phrase of what we’ll call colorful language comes bursting from your lips like Niagara Falls.

Yep the whole deal is down the tubes. One little lego ruined your streak of perfection and now it’s all over.

Another way to look at it is to think of it like a chain. Each commandment is a link, and together, they form a strong chain. But break just one link, and the entire chain is useless. Whether you lie, steal, hate, or gossip, by breaking that one command you’ve broken the whole law completely.

The truth is, we will never be able to fully obey all of the law. We try to be good, to do what’s right, to keep things as neat and tidy as we possibly can, but we mess up. It’s just that simple. Even when we’re doing our best, we slip. And in God’s eyes, stumbling once is enough to declare us guilty of all of it. It’s an all or nothing kind of thing, if you let the law be in the driver seat.

As impossible as this all sounds, there is some hope. Here’s the good news: that lego grenade is exactly why Jesus came. He knew you’d step on it and blow your stride of perfection. He knew we couldn’t fulfill the law on our own, so He did it for us.

The Bible tells us that Jesus lived his life perfectly. That means he didn’t sin. He didn’t cuss when he stepped on his little brother’s lego. He didn’t fly off the handle when Mary told Him to clean His room. Being a carpenter’s son, He didn’t fly off in a fit of rage when He measured once and had to cut three times. He did it all perfectly. And His perfection covers our imperfection. His sacrifice wipes out our failures. We don’t have to live in fear of breaking the law anymore because His grace is greater than our flaws.

True, it’s impossible to keep the law perfectly. And yeah, that kind of sucks. But because of Jesus, we’re not stuck in the suck of failure—we’re set free in grace.

Whose Voice Matters Most?

October 10, 2024 / / 2 Comments

We live in a world of noise. Everywhere we turn, voices are clamoring for our attention. They demand our loyalty, whisper doubt into our ears, and shout promises that never seem to be fulfilled. Among these voices, it’s easy to find ourselves lost, trying to make sense of the competing messages that surround us. When trust is broken, relationships fall apart, and we’re left shattered, those voices only get louder. But what if there was a way to silence them? What if, in the midst of the chaos, God’s voice could be the loudest voice we hear?

Imagine for a second that you’ve been let down by someone you trusted…deeply. A friend, a spouse, a family member—it doesn’t matter who, only that it hurts. The kind of hurt that gnaws at you and makes you question everything. Why did they betray me? Was it something I did? Could I have prevented this?

In the aftermath, our minds become a battleground, invaded by voices of accusation and guilt, swirling with regret and “what if” scenarios. We start doubting our worth, questioning our decisions, and maybe even reconsidering our faith. It’s a vicious cycle, one that leaves us feeling hopeless and alone.

In these moments, it’s all too easy to let the voices of the world consume us. They tell us to cut ties, to never trust again, to harden our hearts and move on without forgiveness. But what if those voices are leading us further from the healing we desperately need?

When God’s Word Speaks Louder

When I find myself lost in the fog of hurt and betrayal, I remember that there is one voice I can always trust—God’s. I know. I get it. He’s a pastor of course he would say that. Stick with me for a second.

In the Bible, we find words that cut through the noise, words that give us life, hope, and healing. They remind us of our true identity, rooted in Christ, not in the shattered pieces of broken relationships. The world isn’t coming more together. It’s falling more apart. If the more we lean into worldly friendship, the more we see our anger increase, then perhaps those worldly voices aren’t looking out for our best interests.

Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.” When the voices around us say we should give up or that we’re not worthy of love, God’s voice tells us that He cares. He wants our burdens, and He promises to sustain us even when everything else falls apart.

Think of God’s Word as an anchor, steady and unmovable, in a storm of changing tides. The world will pull you in every direction, offering temporary solutions for eternal problems. But God’s Word stands firm, rooted in truth that doesn’t change with time or circumstance.

Drowning Out the Noise

I don’t know about you, but I often find that the loudest voices in my life are not the ones I should be listening to. They’re the ones that play on repeat when I lie awake at night, replaying my failures and amplifying my fears. They’re the voices that stir up resentment and keep old wounds open. But I want to live differently. I want God’s Word to be the loudest voice in my life.

That takes effort, though. It’s a choice I have to make daily. I choose to open my Bible and listen to what God has to say about me, about my pain, about my future. I choose to drown out the voices of fear and doubt with the truth of His promises. And slowly, I begin to find peace.

When we allow God’s Word to be the loudest voice in our lives, we’re choosing to trust in His promises over our insecurities. We’re letting His truth redefine our worth, instead of letting the world or our failures do it. And in that place, we find healing. We find restoration.

Letting God’s Word be the loudest voice in our lives means allowing His truth to shape our perspective on broken relationships and even fractured trust. It means letting go of the lies that tell us we’re alone and that our mistakes define us. Instead, we hold onto the truth that God has plans for us—plans to give us hope and a future.

So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the noise, take a step back, take a deep breath and listen. Open His Word. Let it be the loudest, most reassuring voice in your life. And in that space of listening, allow God to begin His work of healing, because His love is greater than any betrayal, and His peace is deeper than any wound.

You are not defined by the fractures in your relationships or the trust that’s been broken. You are defined by the voice of God that speaks life, hope, and love into your heart. Make His Word the loudest voice, and you’ll find a strength that no other voice can offer.

Olympics My Two Cents

August 2, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Pretty sure just about everyone in the world has seen something about the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympics. It’s been quite the hot bed of controversy. But why is it such a big deal? Should we even care? And if so, what is the best way to handle it? 

Before we dive into the deep end of the pool, we need to set the table appropriately. Yeah there was a bit of a pun intended, sorry…not sorry. 

The main image of the ceremony that has really received tons of air time is what many have seen as an open mockery of the Last Supper by DaVinci. Others have explained it away as a visual representation of a festival to a Greek god of wine and pleasure. 

No one, except the planning team, really knows the full intent of the imagery. So to say it is for sure one thing or another is a bit of a stretch. However, we can do some quick research to find out which is most likely. I’ll leave that one to you. 

We’re going to play a bit of a what if kind of game with this one and just assume it was intended to be an open mockery of the Last Supper. Again, I’m not making accusations just for argument sake going to one extreme here. If it was intended to mock a bedrock sacred piece of the Christian faith, then what does that mean and how are Christians to react? 

I’ve seen a few different reactions. There are the silent ones who are just letting the battle ensue without throwing gas on the fire. Admirable to an extent but not sure this is the best option. Sometimes silence speaks to agreement.  

Then there are the extremes of the people who call themselves Christians. On one side we hear things like Jesus would have invited these very people to come sit with him at the table so what’s the big deal. While on the other side, there is vitriol and chastisement running rampant. 

Let’s look a little more closely at the opposing extremes for a response from someone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus. We’ll start with the condemnatory side that’s slinging some pretty harsh rhetoric across the table. 

While I do believe it is the obligation of the follower of Jesus to defend the faith system which they claim, I do not believe name calling, vitriol or slinging damning words is the way of Jesus. If we’re going to call out a wrong in someone else, we very much better make sure we don’t use a wrong to call out a wrong! This is at best a distortion of the way of Jesus. 

Jesus didn’t run around condemning the unbelieving world. As a matter of fact the people he spent effort levying judgment against were the self proclaimed righteous believers who didn’t live out what they taught. That’s the whole Pharisee white washed tombs exchange my grandpa liked to reference. This side of the argument is spending a lot of time sitting on some man made throne exhorting a message that was about grace and mercy and using it as a tool to bludgeon others. 

We are to call wrong…wrong. No question there. And when a fellow believer errs we are to call that out. But are we really thinking that people who don’t believe in Jesus are going to live lifestyles that mirror his teachings? 

Then there’s the other side of the table where there sits a group of hopefully well meaning people who also call themselves followers of Jesus. Unfortunately this group is also very much distorting the words and actions of Jesus. Here’s an excerpt from a social media post by someone who claims to be a pastor. 

But what I can say is that every single person at that table would have been invited to Jesus’ table. Jesus not only spent His time on earth with sinners, He invited them to the very table everyone assumes the Olympic table represents. Matthew was a tax collector. Peter was about to deny Him. Thomas was about to doubt His resurrection. Judas was about to betray Him. Jesus ate with them anyway.  Jesus was with “sinners” all of the time. In fact, it’s one of the reasons the church people hated Him and wanted Him dead.

At face value this statement seems to have some pretty deep truth to it. It punches the judgmental church folk in the face and tells them we should be more forgiving and welcome people to the table. And to an extent that’s exactly what Jesus did. But this writer stops woefully short of the way of Jesus. 

If Jesus just invited tax collectors and sinners to the table for dinner and sent them home that would be one thing, but that’s not what he did. When Jesus saw Zacchaeus, the famous little tax collector known for anything but little fraud, he called him out of his lofty tree and went to his place for dinner. So far it sounds like Jesus shared table with people the believing world didn’t want to embrace. This is where it gets interesting though. Jesus didn’t just hang out with a steak dinner and some wine at Zach’s house! 

We don’t have the fullness of the conversation but what follows gives us a pretty good indication that Jesus didn’t come to Zach’s house for dinner and tell him to keep on cheating people out of their money and living a lifestyle that was totally contrary to everything Jesus taught. Zach left this dinner a changed man. When you encounter the way of Jesus you don’t get up from the table the same way. 

Or take a look at the woman who was caught in adultery. The crowd of self righteous people was there to throw stones at her for her lifestyle choice. But Jesus halts the stoning and looks at the woman not with condemnation in his eyes but also not with eyes condoning this kind of lifestyle. He didn’t look at her and say oh you’re so beautiful keep cheating on your husband and sleep with every man you meet. That’s ludicrous! He called her to change her life – go and sin no more was the phrase he used. 

Look…Jesus calls people to repentance. He calls the believing and the unbelieving world to the same act of repentance. None of us are better than the other. All of us need God’s grace. 

So please if you’re claiming to be a follower of Jesus, then let’s do some soul searching before mouth spewing. I’m pretty sure the way of Jesus wasn’t to yell at people and belittle them because they didn’t believe in him. But he also didn’t excuse lifestyles that were contrary to what he taught. He loved people where they were but genuinely loved them too much to leave them where they were. 

Would they have been welcomed to the table? There’s a very good chance yes. But if they had encountered the real way of Jesus, they would have left that table different people. 

It’ll be ok

May 13, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I hate that phrase. It’ll be ok. It’ll all work out if you just have faith. Are you serious? I have to be honest, Christians say some really dumb and insensitive things!

One thing I wish people would learn is that if you don’t really know what to say, then it’s very much ok to keep the mouth closed! The worst is when people take things out of context. Grab that favorite bible verse and spit it back at someone who’s struggling or you think needs to hear just this little tidbit. If you’re going to do that make sure you have the whole story please!

This week we talked about one of those often out of context verses. It’s from Romans 8:28 and goes like this. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 

I know what that verse sounds like. And to be honest I’ve heard people take that verse and use it in situations where it just does not apply! Times like when someone is really hitting a wall with depression or loss. When someone is struggling with the weight of illness or relationship pains is not the time to throw that verse out! So if that’s not what it’s about, then what is it?

One thing we need to do before we speak is to make sure we know the context. What did Paul mean in these words? To whom was he speaking? What comes right before this? What comes right after it? These are just a few questions that help us make sure we’re appropriately applying a given verse.

In this particular case, Romans 8:28 isn’t about just sucking it up and trusting that the cancer will go away or that the divorce was for the better or whatever scenario we come up with. It’s about looking at the struggles in our lives through a different set of lenses.

Our struggles in life, yeah even the really crappy ones that no one wants to relive at all, are there because in the midst of them God is up to something. Not that we should grin and bear it. But that God is doing a hard thing in us to help us better reflect him to the world around us.

The point of our struggles isn’t that we have a lesson to learn or we’re being punished for a particular wrong doing. The struggles we face often are there to help us live out the purpose for which we were created. And that purpose is to reflect the image of Jesus everywhere we go.

This is the point of discipleship. If you’ve been with us here for any length of time, then you likely have heard me say that discipleship is the process of being transformed into the image of Christ for the sake of others. This is exactly what our struggles and pains are all about. Forming and often reforming that image of Christ in us.

Look – your struggles are going to flat suck some days. You’re not going to want to get out of bed they’re going to be so rough. You’re going to want to throw in the towel some days. You might even collapse on the floor in your bathroom unable to keep food down, laying in a puddle of your own tears not knowing how you’ll ever face tomorrow. But that struggle, as horrible as it is, is part of something way bigger than that moment.

Paul reminds us earlier in the chapter that when we compare our struggles to our good days, we won’t be able to handle it. But when we compare our hardships to the amazing grace and goodness of God that awaits us in heaven, then these struggles will eventually pass. When we keep our eyes stayed on the true and perfect cross of Jesus, then we begin to see past our struggles and find the glory of God that will one day be our reality.

So will it be ok? I really don’t know. It’s going to hurt. I can’t take away the pain. No one can. But I can help you see past the pain to the one who will be there long after the pain is gone. That’s even more powerful than knowing it’ll be ok.

Death Is Blind

April 15, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Tall or short. Fat or skinny. Rich or poor. Black or white. Old or young. Popular or unknown. It really doesn’t matter. Death doesn’t care about any of these things. When it shows up, it’s blind to all of these peripheral matters.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been in the presence of death more than I really care to be. From responding to emergency calls as a chaplain with the Sheriff’s office to pastoral care at life’s end for members of the church I serve, I’ve stood toe to toe with death the past two weeks on more than one occasion.

Death doesn’t care what time of day it arrives or who it comes to claim. It just shows up when the time has come. Some are prepared for it whatever that means. While others are totally blindsided by its presence on the doorstep.

One of the calls I received was a total shock to the family while the other was somewhat predicted. One was devastating and heartbreaking, while the other was filled with hope and joy for what was to come. One was calm and peaceful while the other was anything but peaceful. One was young and the other was a life well lived.

The two scenarios couldn’t be much different actually! But they still had something in common. Death came knocking and death seemingly won, at least for the moment.

In life we try to do everything we possibly can to prepare for every possible scenario. We squirrel money away for retirement. We stockpile food for a catastrophe. We have security systems to keep us safe. We even buy life insurance in the event we can’t outrun death when it does show up.

We try so very hard to control the outcome of our actions. We diet and exercise. We get good sleep and have mindfulness times throughout our week. We take vitamins or use those voodoo oils (yeah I said that for some friends but I really mean those essential oil things).

We can be healthy in every aspect of life medically speaking but when death knocks sometimes there’s nothing you can do to stop it. And it really doesn’t care.

The most recent couple of times death has come knocking it hasn’t even been during daylight hours. It wasn’t in the middle of the day when I could break away. It was overnight and interrupted sleep. Death just doesn’t care who it impacts or when or where.

Death is blind, but we don’t have to be. The most recent death I experienced was for a woman who lived a very long life. She died at 104 years old. Just a few months shy of 105 actually! And while death at any age or time really stings, she was ready. She wasn’t blind to death even though it was blind to her.

She was ready, but what does that even mean? You don’t pack a bag to get ready to die. You don’t typically put it in your day planner. But she was ready. She prepared for this day for most of her life. She did it by knowing what death meant for her.

She was a church person, as am I. She knew that death was never meant to be part of her story. But she also knew that since death was one day going to come and find her, she needed to arm herself with the only thing proven to beat death. What beats death? What beats a blind and indiscriminate killer of all?

She knew the only thing she could arm herself with was the promise of the one who died willingly and rose powerfully to give us hope unceasingly. She would always say that her life was mostly good and that the only way life could be fully good was when she was with Jesus. She knew that Jesus was her death defeater. So now she’s not just mostly good. She’s more than mostly good. And I bet she even gave death a little sassy grin because she knew what death forgot. In Jesus, life always wins and that’s more than mostly good!

Peace

January 31, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Something that everyone longs for in life is peace. We think about it when wars are waged around the world. We think about it when our child enlist in military service. We think about it when we’re bullied on the playground or picked on at work for not being like everyone else. We want peace when our life is a chaotic mess.

The pursuit of peace is something that drives many of us into despair because we’re looking in the wrong places. When we long for peace, and we turn over every rock in the garden trying to find peace looking for it in someway that we can grasp with our own hands, we find it a lot like trying to grab a fist full of water. Unfortunately, that’s not how peace works.

Before we go too much further here, we probably should understand what piece is, and what it is not. Peace is not an absence of war or a place where there is no conflict. Peace, in the way we are using it here, is more of an internal calm, even in the midst of turmoil and struggle. It’s the realization that things are going to work out for the good, even though all evidence appears to the contrary.

While I have to admit, it would be great to live in a world where there is no struggle or pain. We also have to realize that simply is not a reality. There is pain and struggle all over the place in our world. There is fear and apprehension, anxiety and worry all around us. Peace is an internal thing that allows us to navigate life even in the midst of these challenging situations, but where do we find it? How do we grab peace and make it define our present situation?

That’s the hard part because peace is not something we find by looking for it. I know that sounds kind of hopeless, but it’s the truth. We just can’t find peace by securing a bigger bully to help us when life is hard. We don’t find peace by amassing large amounts of money or power or prestige. Peace is a natural byproduct of a right set of relationships.

Throughout the Bible we’re told to trust God. For some people this is an easier task than for others. But the more we can trust God, the more peace we naturally have in life. I know that sounds kind of odd and pretty churchy, but it just is the way it is. When we are willing to give up control of our lives, we actually find greater peace. Trusting in God to function in his role as God allows us a greater peace than trying to earn, win or struggle for peace.

Look, if we’re going to boil this down to one simple thought, it’s that you won’t find peace by looking for it. You find peace only by surrendering.

Forgiveness

January 25, 2024 / / 0 Comments

A super powerful word in the life of the Christian and a word we all should know very well is where we’ll focus today.

Forgiveness.

To forgive doesn’t mean you have to say it’s ok. As a matter of fact, when you forgive someone, you’re saying it’s not ok but you’re willing to not hold it against the relationship. It means that you’re willing to move past the moment, hurt, wrong so that you can heal. Admittedly, forgiveness requires some form of acknowledgment of wrong. Without any form of acknowledgment, it’s hard to offer forgiveness. In church-world, we call that confession. Confessing or admitting the wrong we did is the first step in this process.

There’s a lesson we’ve taught our children about forgiveness that I believe is important for just about everyone. I’ve taught it to every church I’ve served. Forgiveness must flow freely. When someone apologizes or says they’re sorry, the thing you should work toward immediately is forgiveness. It’s good for the person who apologized but it’s also good for you.

When we forgive someone, we free ourselves of the burden of that pain. When we get to a place of forgiveness we are able to bring healing. But all too often forgiveness is withheld. Maybe it’s withheld accidentally because we don’t think it’s really all that important. Let me assure you, it is very important. When someone apologizes or admits a wrong, the one thing they need is forgiveness. Unfortunately, there are times when withholding forgiveness isn’t unintentional. Sometimes it’s done on purpose.

We hold forgiveness to make sure the other person is really sorry. Or maybe to teach them a lesson. We withhold forgiveness because they really hurt us and it just seems right to make them suffer. We refuse to offer those three simple words I forgive you because we’re still hurt. But forgiveness doesn’t mean we’re not hurt. It means we forgive them. It means we’re willing to work on the relationship, through the struggle, even in the painful moments.

Forgiveness is massively important. And to think anything less is likely a reason why forgiveness isn’t a free flowing concept in our lives today.

I’m sure glad Jesus didn’t handle forgiveness with me the same way we handle it with those around us. I’m sure glad he didn’t wait until I had the right heart or asked the right way, or you fill in the blank, before he offered me forgiveness. The beauty of who Jesus is and who he calls us to be is freely forgiven and forgiving people.

The Bible says that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. This is what makes forgiveness so amazing! It was ours long before we deserved it (not that we even deserve it now). It was earned for us before we asked for it. A plan was set in motion to forgive me and you before we even committed the wrong.

We read that when we come to God and ask for forgiveness, he grants it. Fully. Freely. Forever. Every single time. He removes those wrongs as far as the east is from the west as the Psalmist tells us. There are countless ways we see the Bible tell us about forgiveness, but all of them have the same message. We confess. He forgives. It’s the easiest formula out there.

So from whom do you need to hear those words? And perhaps a better question is who do you need to say them to?

Forgiveness is earned but not by you or me. It was earned by Jesus. And it’s his forgiveness that gives us a model for ours.

Cynicism

January 24, 2024 / / 0 Comments

For starters this is one of those words the never looks right to me when I type it. It seems all weird and no spelling actually feels right. So I have to rely on the cool squiggly red line underneath to help me out.

Cynicism is a pretty dangerous thing. To be cynical is to doubt the reality of something. Here are a few different ways to look at cynicism.

One definition correlates cynicism with skepticism. The idea that someone is always up to something contrary to what they say. Someone with ulterior motives would be another way to put it.

In a book titled A Praying Life the author says that cynicism is to be distant, leading to a creeping deadness that destroys the spirit. The book goes on to say that cynicism leaves us doubting and unable to dream. The idea here is that when we become cynical to life, we shut down our hearts and kind of just go through the motions unable to see the reality that’s right in front of us.

C.S. Lewis says that cynicism is seeing through something. He then goes on to say, You cannot go on ‘seeing through’ things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to ‘see through’ first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.

Do you get what C.S. Lewis is saying here? He’s essentially saying where does cynicism end. When you try to see through one thing only to find yourself trying to see through the next and the next as well, you see nothing. Eventually, everything is something else and you don’t know what’s real and what’s false.

This word cynicism comes out of a study of Isaiah 29 as I prepare for a bible study I’m leading. While he doesn’t use the word specifically, this is what he’s talking about. He’s talking about dullness or dryness of faith and life. Isaiah is basically telling the people that they’ve been so cynical of the things of faith that now they don’t even see what God is up to because they’re essentially looking through it.

If we take the word cynical as our word of the day this week, we need to wrestle with where it’s found its way into our daily lives. Where have you been overly cynical? Where has cynicism made life around you so transparent that you can’t even see what’s right there in front of you?

Is it your job? Making you think that nothing you can do is good enough for your boss. Perhaps it’s in your marriage? He’ll never really love me the way I need to be loved. She’ll never trust me again. Maybe it’s in your other relationships? Everyone’s out to get me. No one trusts me. I’m not worth anything. What about your worship? Just going through the motions without a second thought. Your heart isn’t really in it so you’re just faking it til you make it.

Whatever area your cynicism has crept in, you need to deal with it. And there are two things needed to deal with cynicism in life: truth and direction. Both are necessary but we can’t have the direction without first seeing the truth.

Cynicism is like a pair of glasses that cause us to look through the moment at the intentions. And if we’re being honest, the intentions we see aren’t the real intentions but rather ones our cynical minds have made up. This is because cynicism brings a disconnect between our head and our heart.

When we are submerged in the truth of a given scenario, it’s like someone takes those crazy x-ray glasses off. Now instead of seeing assumed motives, we’re able to see the words on the page. We’re able to hear the real voice on the other end of the phone. We’re able to see the actions for what they really are and not for something we formulated in our heads. The only way to do this is to remove the glasses by putting on new glasses of the truth.

Like a bad prescription changes how we see the world around us, so also a cynical lens negatively impacts how we see life. The lenses of truth are put back on when we surround ourselves with people who have the truth. We need to be able to listen to hard things. Be challenged. We need to be honest with ourselves and those around us. And when we do, the truth will shift our eyesight from seeing through something to seeing something through it.

After we change out our glasses to ones filled with truth, we need to look in the direction the truth is pointing us. Now that we’re able to see a little more clearly, we can see what’s in front of us and what’s on the other side of the window C.S. Lewis referred to in his quote.

As we navigate the challenge of cynicism in our lives, we are forced to deal with our own demons. Cynicism isn’t someone else’s problem. You can’t call out cynicism in someone else. You have to see it in you. Take an honest look. Where have you been cynical? What truth have you missed by looking through it to see something that isn’t even there? What direction are you supposed to be going that you didn’t even know existed because you looked through the road map by your cynical thinking?

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