Humility And Forgiveness

Humility seems to be a theme that God has put on my heart lately. Could it be because I am so helplessly prideful? Perhaps. I'm also beginning to see more clearly the connection between humility and forgiveness. One has to humble oneself, I think, in order to be able to truly forgive. I think of all of the times that someone betrayed me or disrespected me and, if I wasn't thinking of some way to get them back, I was at least planning to give them "the cold shoulder" and let them know that, for me, they don't even exist. All I could think about was how badly they had wronged me, how I had done nothing to deserve such treatment by them. Now think of God, the sole Creator of everything that exists, including our own pitiful little selves, and despite all that He has given us, we continue to disrespect Him, to betray Him, to ignore Him, to give Him "the cold shoulder", and to curse Him. If I were God, I probably would have already gone on a rampage and wiped out the earth several times over in my fury that these little..... little.... creatures made from the dirt on the ground, could even DARE to defy me and show such disrespect for me.

But I'm not God. And thankfully our God is radically different from me. Our God actually shows love and patience to these whiny, ungrateful betrayers. Not only that, our God CHOSE to humble Himself and come down from heaven as fully and completely one of us, to live a life of challenges, temptations and hardships just like our own, to LET His own creations beat Him, spit upon Him and nail Him to a cross, and after all that to STILL say "Forgive them.." Where I would have been beating people over the head with that cross, Jesus was using it to forgive them. And He didn't just do it for His friends, those who loved Him. He gave His life for those who were His enemies too. Un--believe---able... Jesus, who was fully God while still being fully human, could have said, "Ok, enough of this. I tried to be one with you. I tried to show you the way, but you aren't listening. I AM GOD PEOPLE AND MY WILL IS GOING TO BE DONE!!!!" But that's not how Jesus works, that's how this world works. Jesus gave us the greatest lesson in humility that has ever existed.

I've seen, heard of and experienced numerous examples over the past weeks of hard-to-forgive situations: ungrateful and self-centered children, black sheep siblings who took wrongful advantages and compromised their family's trust, staff who've taken their employer's teaching and resources and started their own company down the street, co-workers who take credit for your work, ex-spouses who've twisted truth to turn the children against you, etc.. It's easy to become cynical, unloving, untrusting, and hateful in these circumstances. We feel justified in retaliating or complaining about how badly we've been treated. But what does Jesus tell us to do?

In Genesis 50:21, after being almost killed, betrayed and sold into slavery by his own brothers, Joseph, now in a position of authority over them, forgave his brothers and he "reassured them and spoke kindly to them". In Exodus 32:32, after leading the Israelites out of slavery, putting his own life at risk, the Israelites ignore Moses commands from God and create/worship their own idols. Instead of ditching them, Moses pleads with God to forgive the people and even offers to give up his own place in the Book of Life if God will only forgive the people and give them another chance. In Luke 15, Jesus tells us about the son who demanded his inheritance before his father had even passed away and then proceeded to go out and squander it all on gluttonous and trivial pursuits. When the son ran out of money and came slinking back to his father in shame and embarassment, the father did not turn him away, but instead embraced him in love and threw a party for him. In Matthew 6:15, Jesus tells us that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us. In Matthew 18:22, Jesus tells us not only to forgive but to keep on forgiving over and over ("....from your heart" Matthew 18:35), not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!!! In Luke 6:37, Jesus tells us "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven". In Colossians 3:13 we are told to "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

Does it get any clearer? Over and over Jesus tells us to forgive, to turn the other cheek, to go two miles if asked to go a mile, to give both my hat and my coat if asked for my hat. What keeps us from obeying is pride, ego, arrogance, greed, and lack of humility. I like to read Romans 12 over and over again as a reminder. "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse" (Romans 12:14); and "Do not repay anyone evil for evil." (Romans 12:17); and "Do not take revenge...... On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." (Romans 12:19-20)

Everyone, no matter how seemingly vile, despicable, and far from God, deserves salvation and forgiveness. No matter how poorly I feel I have been treated, my oppressor deserves my love and forgiveness, that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. I know from experience that retaliation doesn't work. Righteous indignation doesn't work. Whining and complaining on my blog doesn't work. Only love and forgiveness that comes from a heart focused on Jesus works. It confounds and astounds those who persecute us. And ultimately, it has the power to transform. I cannot truly forgive though as long as I am wallowing in my pride, my justifications, my need to be right, or my desire to win. It takes a humble heart to forgive and really mean it.

Confessions Of A Loser

Many of you who know me know that I love the game of poker. I play regularly in an amateur poker league that holds tournaments at various restaurants and sports bars around town each week. There is no money paid and people mainly play, like I do, for the competition, the chance to accrue points and be the best player at various venues, and for the social contact with friends who play. I've often referred to this as my "poker ministry" because, although I play with many Christians, many of the players appear to be far from Jesus and I try to influence them toward Jesus in my own small ways while I play.

I've had my share of success on the felt and certainly more than my share of losses. Poker is definitely a game of skill, contrary to many people's beliefs, but also has a component of chance involved. This means that even the most skillful player who makes all the correct moves can be beaten on any given day by someone who gets lucky. Lately I've had an unusually high number of such instances in which I was beaten against extremely high odds. Given my competitive nature, this has resulted in anger and frustration and, quite frankly, a good dose of self-pity at my bad fortune even though I played correctly. Dont' get me wrong, I am a good sport at the table. I always smile, say "good game" and initiate shaking the hand of the person who beat me. It just gets to me sometimes when I seem to lose over and over again with the best starting hand and someone who doesn't seem to "deserve" to win beats me by catching an impossible one card in the deck that can beat me. I've also begun to notice a pattern that out of seven people at the table who could have beaten me, it is ALWAYS the one person at the table that is most annoying to me that beats me. They are usually very loud, proclaiming how great they are, are extremely lucky with the worst cards, etc...

So what does all of this mean? I see several themes here. The two biggest ones, my biggest challenges in my walk with Jesus, are complete surrender and pride/ego. By identifying someone at the table who annoys me and I think doesn't "deserve" to win, I am being arrogant, prideful and egotistic. Instead of loving that person despite their faults, I'm despising them and desperately hoping to see them lose. Is it no wonder that Jesus sees to it that I lose to that very person instead of any one of six others I could have lost to? Perhaps some of you think that Jesus doesn't involve Himself in the outcome of card games. I think He does when He is trying to teach somebody something.

So for me, I think He is desperately trying to teach me how to die to self so I can truly live for Him. I have to surrender completely. I have to lose my ego in order to gain humility. On the way home from a horrendous loss in a tournament today, I looked up to see a large billboard on the highway from some company like the Weight Control Center that said in huge letters "You have everything to gain by losing". Coincidence? I think not. Jesus said it over and over again. Many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first (Mark 10:31; Matthew 19:30; Matthew 20:16) and whoever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for me will find it (Matthew 16:25; Matthew 10:39; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; Luke 17:33; John 12:25).

Father God, Jesus, help me to learn how to give up my pride and ego and things of this life so that I can truly have the life You intended for me to have and help to win souls for you, not card games for me.

Are You A Rock Or Do You Roll?

The Bible has approximately 106 references to the word "rock" found within its pages. Most of these are either references to God or Jesus ( Deuteronomy 32:4, 1 Samuel 2:2, 2 Samuel 22:47 )or they are referencing actual rocks used as places of safety (such as a cave, 1Chronicles 11:15, Numbers 24:21), as places to offer sacrifices ( Judges 6:20), or as an object on which miracles were made to happen (Nehemiah 9:15). In most cases, a rock is synonymous with being a foundation upon which other things are built (like Peter and Christ's church); an immovable barrier or shield; a fortress of safety; or a force which can be counted upon; dependable, unchanging, unyielding.

Clearly, God is all of these things for us. In times of trouble, He is our shield, our fortress, our safe harbor, our Rock of safety. His resolve never weakens and He never falters in His love and mercy for us. He will never stab us in the back or give us the cold shoulder or deny Himself to us if we seek Him. God is our Rock everlasting. The question is, are you a rock for God?

Do you wave God's banner proudly in all circumstances, never wavering or denying Him? Do you remain faithful to Him even when tragedy strikes? Do you continue to show your love for Him even when you're not feeling very loving? Can God depend upon you to walk in His will even when it doesn't match your vision for yourself? Or do you "roll" around in indecisiveness, fear, anxiety, and lack of faith?

Doesn't God also deserve our unyielding love and faith in Him in all circumstances? We can pay no higher praise than to be "all in" for God, living in faithful abandon to Him, trusting Him completely with every aspect of our lives.

Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal (Isaiah 26:4).

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).