Gods forgiveness

I have been reading through the Old Testament and have recently started reading Leviticus.  I know what you are thinking, boring.  All the laws and what has to be done and rituals.  But as I was reading chapter 5 I noticed something.

Chapter 5 is about what to do if you sin because you see something but don't say anything or touch something unclean etc.  What I noticed as I read this was in the offerings made for "compensation".  It starts with the lamb, but if the person could not afford a lamb then bring 2 turtledoves.  If the person can't afford even that then then bring in fine flour.

What struck me is there is no excuse for NOT seeking Gods forgiveness. He made a way for the Israelites even when they thought they could not go before HIM. Not only this but He has made a way for us.  There is nothing stopping us from seeking His forgiveness except US.

 I don't know about you but I can think of excuses to not go before God.  How about this: "I screwed up so bad there is NO way God can forgive me"  or "Why would God forgive me?"  maybe this one "God is busy with other things" Here is a good one: "I need to get my life right before going to God". These are all excuses. And none of them true. He has made is so easy for us to come to Him and seek forgiveness. 1. Confess (1 John 1:9) 2. Accept His forgiveness.

There are no excuses.  Seek His forgiveness, accept His forgiveness, live.

Peace!

Unity

Lately the word unity has come up in different devotionals and sermons I have heard preached.  Right now our pastor is going through John and the pastor has begun to teach on John 17: 1-25.

One thing I noticed is how often the words “oneness” and “unity” are used.  Now this makes me want to run to my dictionary and look up those words just to see what they mean.  So bear with me as I look for the definition.

Unity (noun) - the state of being united or joined as a whole: the state of forming a complete and pleasing whole.

Oneness (noun) - state of being unified or whole, though comprised of two or more parts.

These definitions pretty much sum up what I think Jesus is talking about.  In unity we are “whole”. When the Church behaves as “one” we are whole.

I am sure you might be asking yourself “How can I be united with HER/HIM!!!  I really do not like this person.”  If you read in John 17 you will not see anything about liking anyone because unity is not about us it is about God.  For us to show unity to the unbelieving world we have to remember  who we are serving and be willing to put aside any and all differences for the common goal which is spreading the Gospel.  I think a good example of this is in Phil 4: 2. The apostle Paul is pleading with two ladies to “agree with each other in the Lord.”  When done they can go to there respective homes and have nothing to do with each other (until they need to agree in the Lord again.  In other words be able to work side by side for God)

In the unity definition I like the second one best because it speaks of being pleasing whole. That makes me happy because I know I am “whole” because I have that unity of Jesus and God IN me and I have the unity of being whole with followers of Christ.

Listened and heard

I was reading my devotional today and it used the scripture Malachi 3:16.

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. - (Malachi 3:16)

The author focused on "listened and heard" which he said means to bend down so as to not miss a single word.   This is like when a child speaks to an adult most times the adult will bend down so they can listen and hear what the child is saying. We are Gods children so when we talk to or about God (or anything else) He bends down, He listens and we are heard!  That is exciting to me because I spent too many years feeling like not one ever heard me.  I felt like I could say anything and no one seemed to hear me. So to know that not only does God listen He HEARS me.

This brought so much comfort I just had to share!

What we really need

I was listenting to a teaching today and the speaker talked about Mark 2:4 about the guy who was lowered through the roof by his friends.

First I have to say what trust this guy on the mat had in his friends. I mean really would you trust any of your friends to lower you on a mat from the roof and not drop you!

Anyway here is a guy who is being brought to Jesus for the purposed of being healed so when Jesus says "your sins are forgiven".  Can you imagine what this guy might have been thinking. " Here was this person, Jesus, who is so well known for healing and he tells me my sins are forgiven."  Yet in the big picture what this man needed more than anything was to have his sins forgiven by the Son of God.

This guy probably thought his greatest need was to be able to walk.  Look what walking could do for him: he could work, he could support himself, he could take care of himself and not depend on others.  That is a huge need. But what if that need was met and the real need was never addressed. He would still be in the same position: unforgiven. He might be able to care for himself but look at what he was not getting by having his true need met.  

By having his real need addressed, the need for forgiveness, he was able to truly live. he was free. He now had the forgiveness that did not require a yearly sacrafice.

Not only was his true need met but his fleshly need was met as well. Jesus told him to pick up his mat and go.  Jesus knows the true need in our lives. Let Him meet that need and see what He does for all the other needs in your life.

Another word

Well today I made it all the way to Ephesians 4:2 before I had to stop and look up a word. The word for today is "bearing".
  Here is the verse where it is used: "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."  What did bearing mean here.  After asking myself that question I did what I normally do in situations like this, went to Dictionary.com (my favorite website). The definition that stood out to me was "to suffer, endure, undergo". Next stop Strong's concordance.  Could not find that word in Ephesians because a different word was used in the King James Version so that meant I needed to find what word was used there.  KJV used the word "forbear"  which means "put up with, endure"


Bearing, in this verse, does not mean to help another person with their burden but to learn how to put up with an annoying person and to do it with love!  


I am sure we all know that person who just irritates us to no end. Guess what, we are to be patient with that person, putting up with them in love. Now as I read this, it does not mean we have to be best friends, do lunch or chat on the phone but it means love them, tolerate them, learn to work with them for purpose of promoting the Gospel. 


I know this is not easy or fun to do but if we are to be the body of Christ and we are to have unity this is something we have to work on.  Ephesians 4 talks about unity in the body and that unity is not for our purpose but for God's.  If we have unity that means we are willing to put aside our differences in order to do the job God has called us to do so that God's word is spread and the body becomes stronger.


Now on to Ephesians 5.  Wonder what word will pop up there.

A word.

I have just started reading Ephesians and I made it all the way to chapter 1 verse 8 before I had to stop and look up a word in the dictionary.

Ephesians 1:7-8 read, "In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."  The word that caught my eye is the word "lavished". So off to the dictionary I went to find the real definition of that word.  I say real because I know what that word means but it must mean something more than I think.

Lavished: "to expend or give in great amounts or without limit".  This is a verb which means God is doing an action. That action being expended in great amounts without limit is: redemption, forgiveness, wisdom and understanding.  There is no limit on God. He will expend His love and forgiveness to us without end. Accept that no matter what you have done God can/will forgive and that there is NO limit on his love and forgiveness.

Ok time to get started on verse 9.

What to wear today

I have an interesting thought process. A thought will pop in my head and I will think about that and then a related rabbit trail will appear and I take that which leads me to another thought which of course I follow which again I will veer off on yet one more rabbit trail. Fortunately these rabbit trails do have something to do with the original thought.

So here was my original thought one Sunday morning. “What am I going to wear?” So as I began to ponder what life changing quetion the first rabbit trail popped up. Which was how amazing that “we” pull out our finest or our good stuff for church. I mean when Jesus was preaching I am sure the people did not run home first pull out their “good” stuff then go listen to him preach. No they just went. (this is still my rabbit trail thought). That lead to me thinking how people “dress” for church. Many people do wear their Sunday clothes because there is a need to look nice for church.

Well as I was thinking this the next rabbit trail curved and of course I took it. This desire to look nice on Sunday cannot hide what is inside of us. We can look wonderful on the outside and still be stinky on the inside. In Matthew 23:27 Jesus talks about the teachers of the law being “whitewashed” tombs. Looking good on the outside, where everyone can see, yet stinking and rotting on the inside. There is nothing we can do to clean ourselves up enough to make us look good to God. We can shower, put on LOTS of perfume or body spray but that won't make us clean.

It is Jesus who desires to clean us up from the inside no matter how “dirty” we are. He wants to wash away the stink and to make us look good on the inside, if we would let Him. John 3:5-8 tells of the time Jesus was going to wash the disciples feet and of course Peter was like Oh no you won't! But Jesus said if I don't you can't be part of me. In other words Jesus WANTS to clean the dirt so we can be together. Also there is no stink or dirt that is so bad that Jesus would not touch it. Remember He was washing the disciples feet and I know how feet can smell!

Let Jesus do the house cleaning inside. There is nothing so bad that He can't clean it.

Thus ends the rambling thoughts of one Sunday morning.