Ever seen the movie "A Bugs Life" ? - I love it; great story; seen it heaps of times - and well with five Grandblessings that would have to be inevitable. It would have to be No 1 on their hit parade.
Good story; great punchline; good vs. evil sort of thing and the underdog comes out on top WHOA!!
Princess Atta made those memorable lines "What did you do??" when Flick accidentally destroyed the offering stone filled with goodies that the poor old ants had worked so hard to fill for the marauding grasshoppers.
AND... having the five Grandblessings the question "What did you do?" as you can guess comes up pretty frequently at our house.
Well the question I would ask of you today isn't "What did you do?" but rather "What WOULD you do?"
Think seriously now - What would you do for say $5 million Dollars?
Before you answer that question can I refer you to an article by one of my fellow contributors to http://inspirationalchristiansfortoday.com/ and read what Neil Anderson wrote entitled "The Process of Forgiveness" on 29th October 2013.
Now... what would you do for $5M.? - maybe spend a year in solitary confinement, amputate an arm or a leg, circumnavigate Australia barefoot or even lower yourself into a pit on venomous snakes??
How would you decide whether something was worth $5M or not?
Pretty hairy question eh?
Thing is "What is the most extraordinary thing you would do to obey God?"
Would you set aside blocks of your time out of your busy week to help someone? Would you risk your reputation at work by talking openly about Jesus and His amazing extraordinary saving grace?
Would you admit and seek help for an addiction or secret obsession whatever that addiction/obsession is?
Wonder how far any of us are REALLY willing to go?
Now that sort of brings me back to my colleague Neil Anderson and his article "The process of forgiveness"
His article hit home to me especially when he spelled out so plainly how to forgive someone who has hurt you in the past.
Neil finishes his article like this:-
Well... there it was - my life in black and white before me - laid out so plainly. A family member who had been so offended in me that he hadn't spoken to me in over 13 years. All over a perceived offence committed by me to him.
Over the years I have tried to apologise, accepted that maybe I WAS to blame after all even if I couldn't really work out what the actual problem was! Apologies not accepted.
The time had come for one last try on my part. So armed with my Matthew 5 verse and a BIG prayer to my Father God, I phoned. You guessed it!! - No joy only a lot of poison and HUGE pent-up feelings of hurt and anger.
I was bewildered at first; God plainly had spoken to me to do this Hadn't He?
Thinking about it after the event I realised that Forgiveness is not the same as TRUST.
Forgiveness means to set aside your own confusion, bewilderment and any signs of vengeance, but it does not necessarily mean to give the other person the freedom to keep on repeatedly hurting you.
As a Christian we need to show God's love to others. We are called to forgive, but not to be foolish.
To allow someone to repeatedly do the same wrong over and over and over again is foolish. If they are never willing to forgive you, then I'm afraid there is not much we can do after we have exhausted all lines of communication.
We just really have to hand it over to God - Continually and earnestly pray for that person, asking God to fill us with His love and ensure that our motives are pure and honourable.
May I end this article with another quote from Neil Anderson:-
Father, Precious Lord, I pray that you will forgive my sins and where I have hurt please forgive. Help any for us who are struggling with being forgiven or forgiving others to be strong in you. Strengthen our resolve to try our best to 'put it right' as commanded by you in Matthew 5. Amen.
Good story; great punchline; good vs. evil sort of thing and the underdog comes out on top WHOA!!Princess Atta made those memorable lines "What did you do??" when Flick accidentally destroyed the offering stone filled with goodies that the poor old ants had worked so hard to fill for the marauding grasshoppers.
AND... having the five Grandblessings the question "What did you do?" as you can guess comes up pretty frequently at our house.
Well the question I would ask of you today isn't "What did you do?" but rather "What WOULD you do?"
Think seriously now - What would you do for say $5 million Dollars?
Before you answer that question can I refer you to an article by one of my fellow contributors to http://inspirationalchristiansfortoday.com/ and read what Neil Anderson wrote entitled "The Process of Forgiveness" on 29th October 2013.
Now... what would you do for $5M.? - maybe spend a year in solitary confinement, amputate an arm or a leg, circumnavigate Australia barefoot or even lower yourself into a pit on venomous snakes??
How would you decide whether something was worth $5M or not?
Pretty hairy question eh?
Thing is "What is the most extraordinary thing you would do to obey God?"
Would you set aside blocks of your time out of your busy week to help someone? Would you risk your reputation at work by talking openly about Jesus and His amazing extraordinary saving grace?
Would you admit and seek help for an addiction or secret obsession whatever that addiction/obsession is?
Wonder how far any of us are REALLY willing to go?
Now that sort of brings me back to my colleague Neil Anderson and his article "The process of forgiveness"
His article hit home to me especially when he spelled out so plainly how to forgive someone who has hurt you in the past.
Neil finishes his article like this:-
"When appropriate, accept your part of the blame for the offences you suffered.
Confess your failure to God and to others (1 John1:9) and realise that if someone
has something against you, you must go to that person (Matthew 5:23-26)"
Well... there it was - my life in black and white before me - laid out so plainly. A family member who had been so offended in me that he hadn't spoken to me in over 13 years. All over a perceived offence committed by me to him.
Over the years I have tried to apologise, accepted that maybe I WAS to blame after all even if I couldn't really work out what the actual problem was! Apologies not accepted.
The time had come for one last try on my part. So armed with my Matthew 5 verse and a BIG prayer to my Father God, I phoned. You guessed it!! - No joy only a lot of poison and HUGE pent-up feelings of hurt and anger.
I was bewildered at first; God plainly had spoken to me to do this Hadn't He?
Thinking about it after the event I realised that Forgiveness is not the same as TRUST.
Forgiveness means to set aside your own confusion, bewilderment and any signs of vengeance, but it does not necessarily mean to give the other person the freedom to keep on repeatedly hurting you.
As a Christian we need to show God's love to others. We are called to forgive, but not to be foolish.
To allow someone to repeatedly do the same wrong over and over and over again is foolish. If they are never willing to forgive you, then I'm afraid there is not much we can do after we have exhausted all lines of communication.
We just really have to hand it over to God - Continually and earnestly pray for that person, asking God to fill us with His love and ensure that our motives are pure and honourable.
May I end this article with another quote from Neil Anderson:-
"It's okay to forgive anther's past sins and, at the same time, take a stand against future sins. Forgiving is not a co-dependent activity."
Father, Precious Lord, I pray that you will forgive my sins and where I have hurt please forgive. Help any for us who are struggling with being forgiven or forgiving others to be strong in you. Strengthen our resolve to try our best to 'put it right' as commanded by you in Matthew 5. Amen.
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