The other day I was discussing love and faith with a friend and this question came up: “would I forgive my wife if she cheated on me?”
(For all the women reading, please reverse all genders, ie. “would I forgive my husband if he cheated on me?”)
My answer was an immediate “OF COURSE I WOULD! If I couldn't forgive her, how on earth could I ever hope that God would forgive me?”
But it’s important to realize that forgiveness and repentance are two COMPLETELY different things.
Read More"The Christian life may not be MISTAKE-free, but it can be GUILT-free."
The finale in the Fighting Failure series brought us face to face with the greatest enemy of them all...DESPAIR! And specifically, we talked about the despair that comes from guilt and shame - feeling like I've gone too far and messed up too badly.
If you struggle with guilt and have a hard time forgiving yourself after you've repented, YOU MUST LISTEN TO THIS MESSAGE and see for yourself what God has to say about your guilt and your sin.
Part 2 of the Love Is series and this week's topic: LOVE IS ACTION!
We all know that true love is more than words, but did you ever stop to think why you struggle so much to give that love to others? If we all know we need to be more loving, what stops us?
The answer? In order to love God and love others in a healthy way, I must first LOVE MYSELF in a healthy way.
What does that look like? Check out the video above and see for yourself. You'll hear me give my opinion of what that looks like and you'll also hear from a very dear friend of mine who courageously agreed to share her experience on the subject as well.
Enjoy!
"God uses COMMUNITY to lead us to MATURITY."
God's plan for humanity has always been clear - that we "may GROW UP in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). As any parent, God isn't content for us to merely be born into His family; He desires that we would grow and reach the point of maturity. His desire is that we wouldn't just grow OLD, but that we'd grow UP as well.
How does that maturity happen? I believe that a major portion of the process takes place in the context of community. Without community, you'll never reach the level of spiritual maturity that God desires for you life.
How can I say that? Check out Part 4 in The BodyShop series as we continue to look at the different markers that make for a healthy member of the Body of Christ.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment.” Matthew 5:21-22
Week 3 in our latest series at The Well, God's Ethics: Realigning Your Moral Compass and this week's topic is a MUST LISTEN for every single person (and I don't say that often).
The topic is anger and where it comes from and how we should deal with it. But realize that when Jesus speaks about anger, He isn't speaking only about losing your temper and going crazy. He's speaking about anger of the heart... the kind of anger that we often justify and excuse... bitterness, resentment, grudges, hatred.
Trust me, there isn't a person out there who isn't struggling with this kind of anger in some way and until we learn to deal with it, we are doing nothing except enslaving ourselves to a life of misery.
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12
This week's message in the I AM series is based on one of the inspirational and grace filled encounters that Jesus ever had. The statement appears at the end of a dialogue between Jesus, some mean spirited Pharisees, and a woman caught in adultery.
At the start of this year's Lenten journey, Fr. Anthony reminded us that it is a journey of forgiveness -- God's forgiving nature towards us and our forgiveness of others. Whenever I think of forgiveness, I imagine a big dramatic scene like the prodigal son running into his father's arms or friends who haven't spoken for decades finally apologizing to each other in their gray years. It's easy to imagine myself being so magnanimous as to take back an errant child or wayward friend. I'm just arrogant enough to picture my dignified acceptance of his or her apology.
But I don't think that's what Christ meant when He asked us to forgive our brothers 490+ times (70 x 7, see Matthew 18:21-22). Scripture warns us not to judge and that the plank is our eye is much larger than the speck in our brothers' eye (see Luke 6:42).
We are so forgiving of our plank. We are so good at finding rational excuses for our sins. When we snap at a coworker, we excuse ourselves because we were tired. When we cross four lanes of traffic to get to our exit, we excuse ourselves because something distracted us. Do we extend the same courtesy when we are snapped at, when someone cuts us off?
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When I was a child, I used to love getting asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I loved it because the answer to that question was never the same. Like most kids, I was constantly changing my mind about what I wanted to be one day (and believe me, I still haven’t figured it out what I’m going to be when all is said and done).
But I remember that there was a long period where I really wanted to be a lawyer. That was my dream. Coincidentally, this happened to be right around the time of A FEW GOOD MEN – the Hollywood hit starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson. Man I loved that movie!
(even more coincidental was the fact that I also wanted to be an Navy pilot after seeing TOP GUN – the original Tom Cruise classic – where Maverick and Goose stole all of our hearts. “I feel the need…for speed. Whoa!” What can I say. We all have our little quirks. Mine is Tom Cruise movies. Judge not, lest ye be judged.)
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We wrapped up the Crazymakers series yesterday and this final message might have been the most powerful. In it, we talked about 6 commitments that we need to make in order to keep the crazymakers from making us crazy. 6 commitments. That's it. If you can do your best with these 6 commitments, I promise you, you'll find a new level of peace in your life - one that you never knew was even possible.
“When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Proverbs 16:7
Check it out and leave a comment to let me know what you think.
Below is an article written by the late Reverend Alexander Schmemann – a prominent 20th century priest, theologian and writer in the Orthodox church here in America. Fr. Alexander published many books and articles and did much to help the spread of Orthodox Christianity in America before his untimely death from cancer in 1983.
The article below is about the significance and meaning of Forgiveness Sunday – the Sunday before the start of Lent. I am publishing it today because it is a perfect follow up to yesterday’s very popular post on FORGIVENESS: What Lent is All About.
I hope you enjoy this article from one of the modern day heroes of the Orthodox Church in America.
Read MoreTwo days ago I posed a question to my blog readers: what do you think God wants us/you to focus on during Lent?
If we are going to get the most out of Lent and we are going to reach the destination we are aiming for (remember Lent is a journey, not a season), then what do we need to take with us along the way?
We agreed already that fasting is a key element, but there is certainly more. Much more! God is always more focused on the attitudes of the heart more than on the actions of the body. As the Scripture says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (see also Matthew 5:21-22 and 5:27-28).
So what heart attitude do we need to focus on at the start of this Lenten journey? Where should our emphasis lie?
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As promised, today I will address the third and final way that we end up in a pit – WHEN WE ARE THROWN IN. I call this the pit of innocence. This pit has nothing to do with you or your sin. You’ll be tempted to think it is your fault, but the truth is…IT ISN’T. The first pit spoken about in the Bible was this pit of innocence. In Genesis 37, Joseph was just walking through the fields one day, going to see how his brothers were doing and the next thing you know…
“So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat a meal.” Genesis 37:23-25
Every time I read this story, I get filled with emotion at the thought of what happened. It’s not that I am worried about Joseph – we know that he turns out ok. But what weighs me down is the thought of many others “Josephs” out there – who did nothing wrong, yet found themselves violently thrown into a pit by the selfish actions of another.
Below are some real stories of real people that I know. The names are made up, but the stories aren’t and neither is the pain and hurt that they feel. These are all real people who bleed and cry and suffer the anguish of their pit through no fault of their own.
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