My Biggest Struggle as a Christian

I've been thinking lately about what my biggest struggle as a Christian is.  As basic as this sounds, I figure it might be forgiving others as well as myself.  It is nothing I am proud of by any means, but I think the first step to correcting the issue is recognizing what the issue actually is. 

I don't know that scritpure states we must forgive ourself, or maybe allow ourselves to be forgiven, but I think that if we don't forgive ourselves we can not truly forgive others or allow God to have complete control over our lives. 

There are so many things that I have done wrong in my life, some I have forgiven myself for and allowed myself to be forgiven for as well as learned the lesson and moved on.  There are many that I still need to allow myself to be forgiven for as well. 

I have many people whom I need to forgive.  It seems that as soon as I think I have truly forgiven the person for whatever it may have been but then the scene comes up again and I need to start all over again.  Sometimes it gets quite frustrating.  I feel that I take one step forward and two steps back at many times. 

There are quite a few people whom I need to ask forgiveness from.  That is not something I am good at, I was not taught to ask for forgiveness.  I was taught to apologize, but not to ask for forgiveness.  It is something of a relatively new concept to me that I am still trying to get myself in the habit of doing.  Although I am sure it will come with time. 

I know everyone has their struggles, but sometimes it's hard to remember that I'm not alone.  That others have struggles as well, no matter how well they can hide them, and that God is always with me, guiding me and teaching me what it is He has for me to learn.

Blessings in Christ,

 

Forgiveness...

I was going to post about this past Sunday's sermon, but as I sat and listened to the sermon, I wondered what the topic was. This preacher was definitely all over the place, not quite as organized as the other preacher I have heard when I've gone to the Beachy church. So new topic :) Forgiveness.

This is a common theme in the Bible, knowing we must forgive those who have tresspassed against us in order to be forgiven by our heavenly Father is something most Christians are taught from a very young age. Forgiveness is a hard thing though, especially as we grow older. Remember when as young children if someone would do something to wrong us a minute later all was forgotten and we were friends again? God wants us to be like little children all the time, to be forgiving without a doubt, to be teachable and to follow what He says. How many times are we to forgive a fellow brother or sister in Christ? The Lord says "not seven times" but "seven times seventy" (Matthew 18:22). Now I don't believe God means that after we reach that number of times that we stop forgiving, I believe the point is that we never stop forgiving someone. As many times as they ask for forgiveness is how many times we should give it. As many times as someone wrongs us, whether or not they ask for forgiveness, is how many times we give it. There are no strings attached to the forgiveness which we receive from our Father, therefore, there should be no strings attached to the forgiveness that we give to another person.

What happens when we hold onto our feelings and do not forgive? The feeling of resentment eats away at our soul, nothing good will come of it. Yes, we may feel powerful over the other person being able to hold their mistake or wrong doing over their head, but that is not what we should do as Christians. We should immediately forgive the person and as many times as their actions come into our heads or hearts we need to forgive again. Forgiveness may not be a one time deal especially if the action really hurt us.

If you are feeling like you are not able to forgive at that moment, what must we do? We must pray and ask God for the strength to forgive the person and for our hearts to be directed to the right place for forgiveness to truly be issued to the person. Only God can give us the strength to forgive those actions which really truly hurt us. God knows our hearts. He knows if we refuse to forgive or if we are unable to at the moment. There is a difference. Unable means that you want to forgive but you do not have the strength to do it on your own. Refuse means that you are digging your heels in the sand and saying you will not forgive the person because of what they did to you. If your heart is not in the right place then there is no sense in saying that you forgive someone because God knows that you simply said the words rather than really truly forgiving the person.

Forgiveness is ordered by our Father, but our hearts must be right in order to truly forgive those who have wronged us.

Blessings in Christ,

In Preparation for Easter and the Resurection

I know I am posting quite a bit lately, but the Lord has been talking so much to me lately!

Today is Maundy Thursday, or the Passover. Meaning tomorrow is Good Friday and of course Sunday is Easter!

Tonight is the anniversary of the Passover meal at which Jesus was betrayed by Judas. Can you imagine being betrayed to the authorities by one of your closest friends? Then to know that one of your other friends will deny knowing you three times before the evening was out? Just like Peter did.

Then tomorrow, to have to make the march in front of a jeering crowd to go to your death? And knowing this when you are arrested! Wow. Sometimes knowing what is going to happen is worse than not knowing. But, to know the reason why all of this was happening, would be wonderful! To be able to forgive a criminal's sins while he hung on the cross waiting to die, how wonderful! Not all of us get the chance to have our sins forgiven right before we die, although I hope that we don't wait that long to ask for forgiveness.

In addition to be able to rise from the dead and go to a better place, wonderful! Such a wonderful story we can tell the young children and non-believers that we know! We ought to be celebrating come Sunday, on the anniversary of the resurection and be telling everyone we know what a wonderful thing that our Lord did!

Now I may be bringing this down to human level a little bit too much, but Jesus was a human who walked amongst other humans. He was just special, he was also the Son of God and the choosen one to be sent to forgive all the believer's sins since we are not perfect and will always be sinning.

John 3:16-18 (NKJV): "16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God".

Blessings in Christ,