Forgiveness Again

Forgiveness Again

by Keith Bellamy

Can you forgive? Do you have trouble forgiving?

Recently I was reading where a man got into trouble for something that was very criminal. He did his time in prison and tried to work with a church that claimed to want ex-offenders in their fellowship. The man served his sentence, and from all reports he has tried to learn from his crime. However, there were those in that church who avoided him and didn’t really want to fellowship him. And there were those who would forever brand him. I can’t do that. The early church was full of people who had done some terrible things. The Apostle Paul even admitted to persecuting Christians before he became one.

In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul listed some terrible things of which many were guilty. He reminded them in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “…But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (NIV)

If you are a Christian, you were forgiven a terrible debt when Jesus Christ washed your sins away. To be honest you didn’t deserve it, nor did I. But Jesus paid that debt because of His Father’s love for you and me (John 3:16).

Sometimes we get so self-righteous. We can see the sins and faults of others, but not our own. Romans 3:23, still says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” So, why do we play judge so much of the time?

Notice the words of Matthew 18:21, 22, “Then Peter came up and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven’.” I once asked some young people if that meant that after 490 times, I didn’t have to forgive them anymore. Thankfully they were smart and knew better.

But at times we don’t get it, do we? Jesus then told a parable in Matthew 18:23-35 about the unmerciful servant. From that parable we need to understand that we have a debt that is impossible to pay.

If God can forgive us, why can’t we forgive others? We don’t have a choice, do we?

Double Standard

Double Standard

by Keith Bellamy

Some people are very good at digging up dirt on whoever they want to investigate. There is so much bad news out there, one wonders what one should do with such. The question, "How should Christians react to terrible news?" is appropriate here.

Should we say, "They are probably guilty"? Some would say that what goes on in someone’s private life is nobody’s business. Or they may even say, "Well, they all do it."

I want to be fair here. It is easy to make an accusation. It is easy to bring charges against individuals who may or may not be guilty. I know of many who have been falsely charged. And it is so easy to jump to conclusions without the facts.

Please notice the words of Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV). “There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.”

My point is that we often use a double standard. Jesus said in Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (NIV). But He also said for His disciples to “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly” (John 7:24 NIV). And the problem is…we usually don't judge correctly.

We should admit we don't always know all of the facts. So, we need to use the standard of our Lord. His was not a double standard. Neither should ours be. Christians should be known as a fair-minded people.

Remember, they falsely accused Jesus with fake testimony and they crucified Him!

__________________________________________________

Think About This

I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because Jesus said, “If you receive a little child you receive me.” So every abortion is the denial of receiving Jesus the neglect of receiving Jesus.”

Abortion is really a war against a child, and I hate the killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that the mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love.

…Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love one another but to use violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.

Mother Teresa

Hateful People

Hateful People

by Keith Bellamy

We were never taught to hate. If we had even mistreated an animal, we would have been disciplined. We were always encouraged to treat everyone the same.

I remember the song, “Jesus loves the little children.” There is a real message in that song. “All are precious in His sight!” How true that is.

But then again there those people who are hateful. They are bitter. They spew hate out of their mouths and they are like acid. They eat away at everything and everyone.

Someone said, “A toxic person will never change; they just change victims and blame everything on everybody else.” Could that be true?

The people I read about who helped the early church grow were not hateful people. They tried to practice what Jesus taught. I’m sure they were not perfect, but they tried.

Please consider the following scriptures.

John 13:35: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV)

1 John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (NIV)

1 John 4:7: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (NIV)