Category: sin

Forgive: To Grant Relief From Payment Of


Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD;
 may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
(Psalm 40:11 NIV)

As I walk through the Lord’s prayer, I must be ever mindful that I am addressing “Our Father.” To ask our Father to forgive my shortcomings, mistakes, failures and wrongdoings can feel shameful, but once I confess, He always comforts, forgives, corrects and sets me on the straight path again. 

This request seems to have a qualifier that often throws me for a loop, because if God forgives in the same manner I forgive, I am in trouble.

Other versions say, “forgive us our sins, for we have forgiven those who sinned against us.” Still difficult to get a grip on this concept, as I think it should say: “Since I [God] have forgiven you, go and do likewise.” I am sure there have been many a theological debate as to what this sentence means, but at face value it is enough that God forgives me and does not make me pay for my sin.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Jesus paid the debt. God isn’t in heaven saying, “She’s going to pay for this.” He rips up my ledger and I am free. This stunning truth is the only real motivation for me to do likewise for others. 

Another definition of forgive says “to give up resentment of” and this is where I need to pray for God to enable me to release those who have hurt or offended me. This is where the previous request for daily bread takes on deeper spiritual meaning. Unless God had provided Jesus as the Bread of Sacrifice for our sin, no one could truly forgive another. We’d all be meting out our own vengeance.

God is merciful and just. I prefer His mercy in my own life, so why do I so often demand justice? When it comes to those who offend me, I want them to pay for the harm done, rather than have me forgive them.

What struggles do you face with forgiveness?
Posted on by kelrohlf 4

Gate: A Means of Entrance or Exit

I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
(John 10:9-10 The Message)

See the freedom Jesus has provided?
 To enter and exit
as He watches over you and me.
He is the gate from death unto life.
Cemeteries are for the dead.
Come and live the incredible life
that surpasses the grave.
This gate reminds me of the night Jennifer Dukes Lee bravely stood before us to share her dream journey, to bolster our courage in order to remove the obstacles of sin and fear from our path.
She said, “Gates are made to pass through.” As I look back over my notes, I can’t remember if the invitation to write our sins on the rock came before or after the gate illustration, but now it doesn’t seem to matter. I just remember the hard struggle I had to identify my sin or at least the one I was willing to write on the rock. And as I struggled, I realized I had to write the word that was keeping me from passing through the gate or I would never get to those green, lush pastures that Jesus promised.
I didn’t want to write my word because it didn’t seem as important as other sins (comparison points out my sin).  I thought my sin was more difficult to overcome. Fear and self-doubt seemed easier to release in light of God’s love. (I’m not saying that it is, it just felt that way to me in the moment.)
My struggle to even write the word on the rock indicated my sin. I was afraid I might get the wrong word or that I might make the wrong choice. Most of my life I have been afraid of getting it wrong. And in that moment, clear as the glass pebble, we would receieve Sunday morning, I knew I had to write PRIDE on my rock.
Both fear of failure and fear of success are rooted in pride, in the belief that I control my accomplishments and in the doubt that if I don’t get it right, I somehow don’t measure up to God’s standards. Pride in my life has often worn two faces: self-sufficiency and self-pity. Two sides of the same sin.
Placing the rock in the basket was a simple, physical act that released a rush of joy into my soul. And to see Jennifer’s daughters throw them into the bottom of the lake is a visual reminder of how God has triumphed over and over again in all of our struggles, and that we are not alone.
But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that He is ABLE 
to keep that which I’ve committed
unto Him against that day.
(I Know Whom I Have Believed David Whittle, 1883)
Posted on by kelrohlf 2

Empty: Lacking Reality, Substance, Meaning or Value

“And do not turn aside after empty things
that cannot profit or deliver,
for they are empty.”
1 Samuel 12: 21 ESV
Empty nesters, a phrase applied to a couple whose children have flown the coop. I resist the label. This season doesn’t feel as empty as I thought it would. My life is full with both joy and angst. Really nothing has changed, except the circumstances.

These days, I have more time to contemplate my tendency to chase emptiness. How can empty things be so appealing? As God told the Israelites through Samuel, “Empty things are empty. They don’t gain you anything and they definitely cannot deliver you from the emptiness that you have been running away from.” The Israelites had been delivered from bondage in Egypt, moved into the Promised Land, got distracted by the local gods, then cycled through their judges like fans and their American idols.

They tired of God and the judges, so they asked Samuel for a king. Samuel consulted with God, who told him the downside of having a king. But if his people were bent on having a king, he’d give them one, and so started the cycle of kings.

In Samuel 12, Samuel confronts the Israelites one last time about their tendency to worship other gods, and their foolish desire to have a king. A surprising twist in the narrative finds me marveling at God’s frankness about their sin, and His gracious desire to remain in relationship with His wayward ones.

And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.  For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” (1 Samuel 12: 19-25 ESV)

Basically, God says “Yes, you have done all this evil, but I really want you to follow me. Return to me and stop chasing emptiness. I have loved you with an everlasting love, and I am drawing you back with cords of kindness. I will not give up on you; however, if you go back to your wicked ways, there will be consequences.”

God tells us the truth and He gives us the way out. He loves us and He warns us where the empty life leads…to separation and destruction.

Oh, how I want to turn aside from emptiness and chase the One who is “full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 ESV)


Posted on by kelrohlf 4