Thursday, May 6, 2010
Matthew 18
Chapter 18 is a very nice chapter in my eyes, but extreemly challenging. I read Jesus talking about cutting of all the body parts that cause us to sin, but I realize that my hand, or my eye can not possibly cause me to sin...it is my heart (he just told me that in chapter 15). Only by getting control of my heart do I control what I do, and what I do is important, because Jesus has a stern warning for those who create the situations that cause sin in this world. So the question is, how do I get control of my heart? And Jesus says the best way is to give it to God, the very same God who persues us like a shepherd after lost sheep, and who rejoices when we are no longer lost. Without stopping, he continues right on to the opposite of causing sin; brother and brother working through difficulty and sin (peacemaking) to forgiveness. I have always seen this as a church discipline passage, but it seems to be more about rooting out sin and forgiving, that lost sheep might be found. I can't help but think Jesus is hopeful that in the honesty of telling someone, "you have hurt me", healing will take place. Sure he give us permission to kick people out, but then he turns arround and says to forgive 7 x 70 times. Tonight I heard someone say, in essence, forget about 70 x 7 for a minute, forgiving 1 time is hard enough. I though that was incredibly honest and ground shaking, because: 1) I have done my share of bad in this world and caused my share of hurt, and yet God chases me down like a lost sheep, but do I really claim his forgiveness, or do I still feel like and incredible loser? and because I never feel forgiven (or accept forgiveness) 2) Does that mean I in turn say I forgive people (all the while still feeling like they suck) but never going to them with the intention of really healing a wound and really forgiving them? I am forgiven (whether I fully get the depth of that yet or not) and that my friends is beautiful! And God now expects me to forgive likewise (by chasing people and sharing with them) that wounds might really heal, otherwise I am still just an instrument for sin and hurt, and that my friends is a challenge. O God, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Help us to accept the former, that we might truely accomplish the later.
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Matthew 18:12-14
ReplyDeleteParable of the Lost Sheep
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.
This passage has a very special meaning to me and is one of my favorite scriptures. In the period after I was young, unsaved, and VERY sin-filled, I could not shake the belief that I would only get into heaven by the skin of my teeth...that I would only squeak through the door because God didn't really have any choice; I had accepted Jesus so I kinda HAD to be let in. I believed that Jesus died for the world, but I DID NOT believe that if I had been the only one that Jesus would EVER have died for me. I just couldn't make myself believe that.
This scripture is in large part what finally convinced me that, yes, even if I had been the ONLY one, Jesus would still have loved me enough to die just for me. I thank God every day for that realization.
The challenge for me in today's reading is to remember God's attitude about saving man...that every one is precious and worthy of his love and forgiveness...NOT ONE is SO worthless that he/she is beyond redemption...that Jesus would have died for that ONE person just as he died for the whole world!