Love and Forgive

I had not yet expected the increase in loading with this new year and new season, and I recognize more and more that without God's help, I cannot do any, if not all, of the things well.

I need to do well in faith, in school and in body, not neglecting any of my family, friends and my girlfriend. I have done poorly in these, one way or the other.

How may I take up a hobby and suspend my care for these people and affairs? I should not have time to engage in small activities that are small and will be of no consequence when lined up against these.
My best energies cannot be used to please myself alone.

My eyes ordinarily see only myself. If I live only by what I see and what I care to see, I will neglect and harm others, as I live my day out.

I must not give in to anger easily, but instead love in tenderness, gentleness and kindness.

Love covers all offenses; it does not blame or hold wrongs against one another. It does not invoke jealousy or guilt.

We may not love perfectly, but we may learn more and more from our God, who is Love.

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. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^[b] into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for^[c] our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 ¹³ We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

   God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷ In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Our hearts must turn to God. Our hearts should be hearts that seek the LORD, even in joy, or in sorrow and anguish. We must bring our feelings and emotions before the Lord, those feelings that we can or cannot help feeling. We are not to think of our problems apart/ away from God. We are to pray in all things. Prayer is our first and best response.


We are in human company and we bruise, offend one another daily. We need to forgive and love those who harm us, and even more so if they are our friends.

We are not to bear grudges or store in our minds and hearts the offenses of others. We do not count their wrongs against them but love them past these. Love keeps no record of wrongs.

It is necessary to forgive, for in Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus said:

   ¹⁴ For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

And He said this, after having taught us how to pray. We are instructed to pray and ask God to "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors".

Jesus says this absolutely, and in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18, Jesus said that unless we forgive our brother who has sinned against us from the heart, there will be no canceling of debts.

We must forgive others, just as how God forgives us - He has done it first. We are to love uncommonly, with uncommon strength and uncommon motivation, all received from our God, who is Love.

We are to pray for God to fill us with His love for Him and for others, that we may have the strength and love to forgive others who have done us wrong.

I may not do this by myself, for I do not have much love. But God will pour His love into my heart by His Holy Spirit, already given me.

Christ lives in us; we must also live in Christ.
May His love be made complete in each of us.

The Season of Blessing.

This is a season of blessing, but as His people, we must not be unwise but instead move into a preparation for the things to come. We are not uninformed of the days ahead, where there will be dark and difficult times.

What lessons the Lord uses to shape our person, we must learn. We are meant to be complete in Christ.

So God's blessing on me is not complete - I may not break away from Him.

*

Yesterday's fellowship was a good instance of how God gathers His people together. We had started out with 3 men who only looked to encourage and strengthen each other in our faith. The later additions were a pleasant surprise that greatly encouraged us. We did not anticipate having sisters in our group and were only looking to build the men up in faith.

Wei Qiang had heard of our gathering and was eager to join with fellow believers.

Phoebe grew aware of our gathering when I went late from our fellowship to a committee meeting and she later asked to join us. She brought 2 friends along afterward.

Terence was led to our group by the singing that we had only began to incorporate into our meeting on his way back from dinner yesterday. He shared that he realized he was led to a group of worshippers by God seeing that he was not walking so closely with Him. It was the first time everyone turned up, and although it was 8 people, bringing people together is not something a single person can do.

There are no coincidences because God is sovereign and God is powerful. While men act out of self-interest, He acts out of His love and His righteousness. So we were gathered to share, learn and pray.

When it came to sharing, I realized that my study of the Word this week was not in depth, because I was invested in the essays that occupied so much of my reading and writing.

I had only read Exodus 34, and I was wary that sharing on the character of God in the Old Testament could affect the understanding of God for believers younger in the faith.

But what I managed to share, I believe was not scripted or prepared, but prompted.

Why I shared from the Old Testament, because God is unchanging and he is the same. He was, He is, and He is to come. (NIV Bible, Revelations 4:8)

This was a point where Moses was leading the nation of Israel and in close relationship with God. And he had asked God to show him His glory.


Exodus 33

¹⁹ And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”


Exodus 34
 ⁵ Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. ⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Moses' response was in verse 8.


Exodus 34

  ⁸ Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.

He is the same God, yet unlike Moses we do not know to go to Him in meekness and humility - we miss out this reverence for God, and seeing His high standards of holiness and purity that we cannot meet. He is compassionate, desiring and delighting to give grace and show mercy, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness, loving and forgiving.

The use of the word 'yet', also means that at the same time, there is no compromise between His kindness shown to all men, as well as His righteousness. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (NIV Bible, Genesis 18:25)

God will not leave the wicked unpunished, because He is a righteous Judge. While He loves and shows kindness, He will deal with wickedness and with wicked people. We were previously in this category.

His love motivated Him to work salvation with His right arm and Christ Jesus provided the full payment for us who now profess and live in faith and hope in Him. Therefore we must be careful to understand God's holiness and how much and how often we go the other way in sin.

So we must repent and confess so that we may be washed clean by Christ. He who conceals their sin does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (NIV Bible, Proverbs 28:13)
Any small stain will not do, we must deal with our sin, bringing them before God.

My sharing point (thesis) was that, we often have an improper view of God, and thus we have an inaccurate view of our own standing in relation to Him. This affects our reverence and awe for Him, and causes us to feel comfortable that we are soon measuring up to His standards. We do not fear Him as we should. We must desire more, to be clean and like Him.

We need to know Him so we may love Him and live worthily to please Him.
Where we have a proper view of God and a view of ourselves, we may know how much we need Him.

*

There is a need for me to understand what gifts do I have, so that I may function optimally where He has designed me to. It seems that whatever small gifts they may be, they are to do with learning and sharing His Word. However, I cannot be effective without having spent time in His presence.

We are a collection of different people who have been called by Him.
There are differences that only God can reconcile - He mediates between men. But Christ has mediated between us and the Father.

Can any man be fully right? And yet we do not follow men; we follow Christ.

May all believers love and protect one another. Will the sheep be in disunity? They are not, because they follow the same Shepherd, along the same way.


I am not the picture of spiritual health, but His Spirit is at work in me to clean and teach me.
I write, in addition to flaunt my depth in Scripture, also to note the events in this time that are important to me and also to edify others who may read. 


I am deeply entrenched in His Grace. This is a good place to be. 

Works Cited

Holy Bible, New International Version. East Brunswick NJ: International Bible Society, 1984. Print.

Loving Those Who Resist

My week is always a comparison between God's faithfulness and how I reciprocate His love for me with my faithful obedience. How much of my heart I give over to Him, and how much do I compartmentalize and reserve for myself?

Happiness or Joy?

I do not know any person who is happy all the time. There are moments of depression that I will fall into, but the good thing is that I will not be in it for too long. I am not allowed it seems, to be sorrowful for long before my great Comforter will soon restore to me the comfort that was promised me.


Who may comfort my troubled spirit?

God will comfort me; this is His Character. My Father loves me and He is also the God of all Comfort. He made me, and He knows what beverage I need for my thirst.

It is also wise to note that I have observed that Happiness is a feeling, whereas Joy is a state. 

And we know how short-lived feelings are. 

Grace

Building relationships takes a lot of grace. Do I have so much?

Yet I am charged to love and to be gracious, because I have known His Grace and His love. We are in the business of imitating, becoming more like Christ Jesus, so we give grace to others and love them.

Who truly understands grace? Only the greatest sinner who has received full pardon. Paul the Apostle considered himself in this category.

Who validates me? Not men, but my God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 1:15-16

New International Version (NIV)

 ¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

One who is aghast at the horror of his vile sins will then understand the full measure of the pardon and appreciate the grace and hope held out for him. If I may be forgiven for these great sins, I may be confident that the One who forgave me loves me beyond my state, and my present condition.

Luke 7:46-48

New International Version (NIV)

⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
 ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

I think that the casual and unappreciative way Christians speak about grace shows a great lack of knowing what it is.

Grace is neither abetment nor endorsement. Grace frees and Grace empowers one for Holy living. If we truly know Grace and see the heart behind it, we will want to remain in this love and goodness and never depart into unacceptable ways again. Grace results in the ability to forgive.


I think we are vengeful creatures who long to visit others who have harmed us with malice also. But in Christ, we are a new creation, and have His Spirit to help us.

Resolution,
I am to imitate Christ, to forgive and to love those who have not loved Him and have not loved me also.  And so I will-I must, and He will pour out the strength and the love to cultivate this foreign nature that was never mine or a part of me in the first place. This love has always been from Him. 

Journaling

I do not talk about my feelings. I have only talked about my thoughts.
While I cannot remember who said this, I think it is very true-"If I should die before I wake, throw my journal in the lake."

I still want to be honest in my journal, at least for a while more, and gaining access to my writings is gaining understanding of how my mind works, how my heart feels, the contents of my soul and how my spirit is. Sharing this with another is deeply intimate, and it must be done with wisdom.

Prayer


I actually heard the most encouraging thing last evening from my non-believing buddy.
He said he knew if I were angry, I would pray one, adding a "I know him very well".
I wonder if he sees that prayer is not just self-talk, but transformative.
It is also a reminder of how dependent I am, and I must be, on prayer.



Two threads of thought came to me last night before I fell asleep:


"Of one thing I may be confident of and in, even if all else falls apart, that He has loved me with an everlasting love, and His everlasting love moves Him to care for me in every way. Who may know how dearly beloved we are to Him."


And because I know the above, I could say:


"There is nothing left to say other than 'Amen' and to go sleep."






I am not a holy man, who is so close to God that I now have an elevated standing. Rather, I am one who is conscious of Him and His standards and of how I fall short all the time. But I also am conscious of His love and His goodness and the hope held out for me. Therefore, I may live with confidence that He will be with me. 


It had been said, in the last part of Isaiah 49:23, that those who hope in the Lord will not be disappointed. Our hope is based on the Character of our God who is unchanging, whose love for us endures forever.