I Choose Grace

Offence builds a Fence – Forgiveness builds Faith

Offence! How easy it is to be offended. Real or imagined we see the splinter in our sister/brother’s eye and want to ‘help’ by pointing it out and in that way remove it but Jesus says in Luke 6:37-45
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
Judging another requires pointing out his/her faults – ‘you’ve got something in your eye, here let me get it out for you.’ How can you help when you can’t see yourself. I am a nurse and I know how hard it can be to get a little speck out of someone’s eye, even more so now that my eyes are changing. I wear glasses because I have been nearsighted since I was a child. But for years I have worn contacts for that and for the last year I have been using reading glasses. If I don’t have my contacts in I have to take my regular glasses off and hold the page close to read and if I am wearing my contacts I need my reading glasses to see detail or I have to stretch my arms out as far as they will go. SO come over here and let me take that little speck out of your eye for you. That is what I’m talking about. Don’t judge (pronounce judgment on) and don’t condemn (pronounce guilt/judgment on.) We are too blind to our own faults to see that we are just as guilty. We are just as condemned. Look at the next verse, you can use my glasses if you want.

Read on from verse 39. He also told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? (skip verse 40 for now) 41 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
43 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

The fruit does not fall far from the tree. The apple tree is full of apples. The mango tree is full of mangoes and the tree that drops judgment on the person sitting under it must be full of judgment. Now let’s look back at verse 40 “The student is just like his teacher.” The student is a product of the teacher just like the fruit is a product of the tree. So what does your fruit look like? What product falls from your lips? Out of the fountain of thoughts and feelings your words spill out. So what kind of words are they? They reveal your teacher. We say we are children of God and Christ followers, then our words should reveal that our hearts are like His, not judging, not condemning, but forgiving and full of love. The tree of forgiveness produces the fruit of forgiveness.
But alas we are not Jesus – we get offended, and we learn from that offense. The offence or hurt teaches us that people are unkind, not trustworthy, even cruel so we must protect ourselves and guard against being hurt again.

Let’s look at Luke again. A few chapters further on Luke 17:1-10
17:1 Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 So watch yourselves.

He says opportunity to be offended will come, you can count on it. People will say hurtful things, do mean things, even in the church (that hurts, they are suppose to be our brothers and sisters) and sometimes in our families (Ouch – they are suppose to love us) and in our marriages (Even though we promised to love, honor and cherish each other above all others.) So what do we do with these hurts? These offenses? We feel we are rightfully hurt, rightfully angry, rightfully offended, according to our judgment we can rightfully say we have been wronged. "If your brother (sister, father, mother, child, husband, wife) sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."

If judgment falls from the tree of judgment, forgiveness must fall from the tree of forgiveness. If we understood how often, how deeply, how painfully we have sinned against our brother, Jesus, we would not be so self righteous. But our offense is justified, look what they did to me! So is our sin against Him, we put Him on that tree. He forgave us, He shows us how to forgive, He gives us the power to forgive. How? Through faith. Trusting Him with our hurts, disappointments, anger, and fear of being vulnerable again. Trusting Him with the consequences we want to make sure others receive for their part in it. Trusting Him with revenge.
See Rom 12:19-21
19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.)
Trust Him to take care of it and leave it alone. How? Through faith. Is this hard? Ask the disciples. Look at the next verse in Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" (Increase our faith Father! I need more faith to trust you with this. How can I let go of the pain, the offense, the memory, the control, how can I be vulnerable again? I need more faith Father!)

6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.
This verse is often used to encourage people to believe for great things, impossible financial problems, physical challenges to big for us to handle but this verse is right here smack dab in the middle of instructions on how to forgive! So how does it all tie together? It takes faith to forgive. Believe in Me, trust Me, and I will uproot those thoughts, that self-righteousness, those hurt feelings, that offense, that grudge, those memories. Jesus says, “If you have faith in Me, you can say to that root of bitterness and unforgiveness, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” Forgiveness takes faith. Forgiveness is hard work. But ‘without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Heb 11:6) Have faith that God will do His part and remove the offense, the pain, if we will just speak! “Say to that root of bitterness and unforgiveness, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea.’ And say it like you mean it! We can talk for hours about how someone hurt us, offended us, but we pull back from saying “I forgive you,” or from telling ourselves, “Bitterness I tell you to go, unforgiveness you have no place in my life, in my heart or my words, so be gone! I forgive ________. The name that popped into your head right now is a good clue where to start. Don’t be defensive when you are hurt. Take the offensive with offense, go after it! Dig it up and throw it in the sea.
Guarding an offence builds a fence – choosing to forgive builds faith! He has forgiven me therefore I choose to forgive. The following song, sung by Damaris Carbaugh, rings true for every forgiven heart.

I CHOOSE GRACE

Careless words cut so deep
A friend I trusted, wounded me
For a while, I held it in
I didn’t see the bitterness and sin
I lost hope, I lost sleep
I lost the peace of Christ in me
Oh the hurt, over time
Became a prisoner of my own design
The Holy Spirit made it clear I needed to let go.
And let forgiveness flow

So, I choose Grace, I choose Grace.
I won’t hold on to anger,
To judge is not my place
I choose Grace, I choose Grace.
When I look into my Savior’s face
I choose Grace

Well maybe you’ve done the same
Cradled pride and nursed the blame
Now you’ve see what it cost
All the loneliness the life you’ve lost
If you’ve reached the point where you can’t take another day
He can take the pain away.

Say, ‘I choose Grace, I choose Grace.
I won’t hold on to anger,
To judge is not my place
I choose Grace, I choose Grace.
When I look into my Savior’s face
I choose Grace’

Righting wrong relationships
Two hearts are in accord
Reconciled and restored

For, I choose Grace, I choose Grace.
I won’t hold on to anger,
To judge is not my place
I choose Grace, I choose Grace.
When I look into my Savior’s face
I choose Grace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7DMXBzVH74

Call Me

The other day a friend’s post on facebook read, “Click ‘Like’ if you wish heaven had a phone.” I responded with, “It does, ‘Call me and I will answer you.’ Jer 33:3” God is not distant and angry, He is the complete expression of love. Strange how we expect God to speak to us but our prayers are so filled with talking He’d have to interrupt to get a word in, or a Word in. He is God though and He will find a way to get His message through. Walking to church this morning I was feeling in adequate and disconnected from the Father’s heart. So I prayed as I walked, “Lord, make my heart like yours. Keep me in step with Your Spirit and remind me whose I am. Show me how to walk in the identity I have in You.” I got to church (early) and checked my phone. There was my daily email from www.365promises.com for Jan 8th, or my personal response from the Father. “I sent the Spirit of my Son into your heart so you could call Me Father.” Gal 4:6 God is listening and responding to our prayers, call heaven if you want real answers.

Yesterday's coffee

Well for those of you who faithfully check this page for a fresh word, what can I say? Thank you? I'm sorry? I'll do better? It has been too long since I put my thoughts together for you. So, I am back. I am sure you faithful ones have gotten quite tired of yesterday’s words. I may not spend much time proofing or editing so please enjoy what you can and spit out the pits.
My husband could not stand the taste of coffee for the first 18 years of our marriage, while I would go the proverbial extra mile to get the perfect cup of coffee. The thought of heating up yesterday's left over coffee in the microwave nearly made me gage. Some of that has changed as Paul now drinks coffee every morning but we have been spoiled with a fresh ground cup of fresh brewed coffee every morning and we think it is the perfect way to start the day, sipping in the mellow mood of mornings, kick-starting the thoughts that will take us through the day.
The other day I was having my perfect cup when a still small voice reminded me, that as much as I like my coffee fresh, I am often content with yesterday's Word. I would never be content with yesterday's coffee, yet I often let my feet hit the floor and point myself into the day with yesterday's Word of God vaguely resting on my memory. Why is that habit of starting fresh with Him every morning so easy to side step, like yesterday's clothes on the floor? A day started well always goes better no matter how tangled it may become. Good Morning coffee! Let's go sit at His feet for a while and listen to His fresh spoken Words for today.

Unwrapping one more gift

Christmas has come and gone, the Christmas gifts have been opened and the wrapping thrown away. Remember the shopping that went into getting all those gifts? Perhaps you received, or gave, gifts that were nice but not really the perfect give. Perhaps settling for a gift card or something generic but not knowing what would really please the receiver. Does the same thing happen when we give gifts to God? Do we give to Him not knowing exactly what would please Him. Sometimes we give Him what we think would please Him, like perfect church attendance, giving to others, more faithfulness, or money. When we bring gifts to the King, we need to be sure it is what He wants. Before we take on that extra duty or activity, let's ask Him what He wants of us. When He tells us what He wants and we give it, it will be the perfect gift. The perfect gift might not look like what you would expect. The kings brought Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh. Appropriate gifts for a baby born in a manager? Hardly. Appropriate gifts for a kings to give another King? Entirely! Ask Him what would please Him and then give it freely.
What about the gifts you received, did you open them? Have you enjoyed them? Used them? I heard yesterday of one store that makes $8.000,000 each year in unredeemed gift cards! Let's make sure we receive all that He has for us. It is already given but we have to unwrap what He has for us. God in His grace and "divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him." (2 Peter 1:3) "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" (2 Cor 9:15)

Have you been BING'd today?

Have you ever lost something and while looking for that something become distracted by the sight of something else along the way? That happens to me all the time on my computer. I check email from a friend going to “Women of Faith” in Tampa, I open my web browser to see when “Women of Faith” will be near my city, one of the speakers is unfamiliar to me so I click on her link to read more. You get the idea.

I know it has NEVER happened to you.

Microsoft has recently produced a number of commercials for Bing, their search engine. Each scenario shows how a single word triggers a new sentence or thought in the person who hears it, often taking the conversation in totally unintended places. Watch them here if you trust yourself not to get distracted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0f8X_SOVjA&feature=channel
That is exactly what happened to me this morning, only I was not on the computer, I was reading my Bible. Follow me.

“Even a fool is thought wise if she keeps silent, and discerning if she holds her tongue” (Tongue)“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Fruit) “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Control) “If anyone can control her tongue, it proves that she has perfect control over herself in every other way. We can make a large horse turn around and go wherever we want by means of a small bit in his mouth” (Mouth) “May the words of my mouth and the meditation in my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord” (Pleasing) “When a woman's ways are pleasing to the LORD,He makes even her enemies live at peace with her” (Peace) “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Heart) “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of your heart spring the issues of life” (Life) “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (Word) “Your Word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You” (Sin) “If anyone does not sin by what she says, she is a perfect woman” (Perfect) “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
BING

…but words can never hurt me.

An email has been circulating that proposes a cough method of self CPR. It says that if you recognize the signs of a heart attack you can do cough CPR on yourself before you lose consciousness. I am not promoting this, as the success of this method is questionable and snopes.com claims it is false.

We cannot make our own heart beat, we can however, destroy it. We have the power to kill and destroy our hearts all on our own but we do not have the power to bring it back to life on our own. We do however have both the power of life, and death, in our tongues. Our words have the power to bring life to a person, to a conversation, or to our own soul. Remember saying the words “I do,” did that not change your life forever? Or hearing the verdict, “Guilty!” would that not change your world? Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (NIV).

Our everyday words have the power of life and death as well. When gossip is sweeping through a conversation and you stop it with a phrase, does that not bring life to the person who was being destroyed? When someone in your family is telling you their dream and vision and you open your mouth and stomp on it, does that bring life or death to the dream? My own personal snopes.me would discredit the old saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Words bring health and healing, or death and destruction, to those who speak them and to those that hear them.

Want to know how you’re doing in the verbal life and death department? Look at the fruit, the outcome, of your words. The Message Bible puts it like this, “Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit—you choose.” Whatever you choose will have an outcome. “Pleasant words are …health to the body” (Prov 16:24). Speaking life and health to others and yourself, now THAT is self CPR!

Look at you ~ beautiful you!

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is…? Mirrors show and throw back exactly what they see. Pictures can be touched up. Clothes, war paint, and color, can camouflage imperfections and change the way others see us. But when I stand in front of the mirror, BAM, there it is, all the years and tears of my life staring back at me. Friends say I look good, I tell myself I’m doing fine, but the mirror is not so kind and it does not lie.

Reminds me of a verse, several actually. Ezekiel 33:31 talks about how the people come and listen habitually but do not put what they hear into practice. “With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts…?” Sounds like a worship service doesn’t it? Yes we cover, paint and practice hiding our imperfections but inside we are still the same. Our heart just don’t match the outside and we’ve gotten comfortable with that.

James (1:22-25) says the same thing in the New Testament. “Don’t just listen to the word and/or the Word and think that listening changes you. It doesn’t. Do what it says or you are just deceiving yourself. Listening to the word but not doing what it says is like looking in a mirror and walking away, immediately forgetting what you look like” (My version).

A lot of money, time, and effort, is spent on fooling others to believe that we are skinny, have flawless complexions, are kind, considerate, hard working and godly. We may fool them, but fooling ourselves? That is just ~ foolish! When I look in the Word I find that the only true mirror is the mirror of God’s Truth. He is not deceived, I have only fooled myself. If I really want change I have to do something different, I need to do what He says. When He reveals my imperfections to me I have to do more than make notes in my Bible, tell the preacher his sermon spoke to me, and post an excerpt on FB, I have to do what He says.

Being a tolerant society is very vogue right now, but being tolerant of sin in our lives is never vogue with God. We tolerate a lot of junk in our lives and encourage others to be accepting of it. God says get a new mirror, here use Mine! The difference is His mirror is not condemning, it is freeing. He says look, you have something green in your teeth, so that you can remove it and be the beautiful person He created you to be.

If we want freedom and God’s blessing, we actually have to change. James goes on to say that the person “who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does” (vs 25 NIV). Don’t think of the law as restrictive, it brings freedom. How freeing would it be to actually be the person inside that you present to the world? How freeing would it be to be the same great person you think/wish you are, at church, work, play, and in traffic. That is what God wants. He wants you to be free to be yourself without embarrassment, shame or self consciousness – kind of like you were back in the garden.