Forgiveness

Group Of Men Paddling While Inside Inflatable Boat

Cling On!

I am amazed that the English language has become so broadly used worldwide. The title of today’s post is “Cling On,” but if I said this, you would probably think I was referring to Star Trek Klingons!

I was thinking about something the apostle Paul wrote to the young man that he counted as his son. Paul wrote:

19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.

1 Timothy 1:19 NLT

Sins

What would compel a person to violate their conscience deliberately? Doesn’t that seem odd, certainly foolish? The word “deliberate” tells us that Paul is writing about someone who commits the worst unrighteous acts. In God’s Word, we are taught that a person can do three types of unrighteous actions against God. These are sin, transgressions, and iniquity.

Since we use English, we lump all three into the word “sin,” but God doesn’t. In Psalm 32:5, the psalmist wrote, “I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.’

We commonly define sin as “missing the mark,” which is accurate but misses the mark. 😉 Sin usually is birthed by our idea instead of something from the Holy Spirit. It may be a great thing, but not the right thing to do. It may be something we commit to doing, but we try to do it with our ability. Or, it might be something we decide to do while never considering God’s will. All of these actions “miss the mark.” They are sins.

Transgression

A transgression is when we intentionally choose to do something that we know is against God’s will. We know that we should not tell lies. We know that satan is the father of lies1, so when we choose to lie, we aren’t missing the mark; we are deliberately transgressing God’s will. The same is true if we deliberately put our interests ahead of others or someone tells us a need, and we have the resources to help, but we send them on their way empty-handed. Transgressions tarnish the Bride of Christ.

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”

Psalm 32:1 ESV

Iniquity

Now we come to the worst actions against God’s will: iniquity. Iniquity is a premeditated action that we know is against God’s will; it’s like premeditated murder. Iniquity is when we choose our will over God’s will and continue to do it without repentance. Iniquity is embezzlement; it’s sleeping around; it’s being narcissistic. But Jesus saves and forgives.

When Jesus called Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, to share a meal, Jesus extended forgiveness to a man whose profession was one of iniquity. Iniquity is terrible, but it is not beyond God’s forgiveness.

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

Hebrews 8:12

Let’s Cling On

Whew! That’s a lot of background information, but we need to understand what Paul knew and what he deeply desired for Timothy to know. Paul wrote from painful experience, “Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear.” Being a “Harvard” graduate Pharisee, his classmates continually challenged him. They hated what he taught, and they hated him for teaching the Gospel of Jesus. Paul never wavered but fiercely held on. He was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ Jesus2.

Paul had seen the shipwrecked lives of Christians who demonstrated great love and humility for Jesus, but they caved into peer pressure. They tried to straddle the fence and suppress the Holy Spirit’s life in them. The result of their actions was that they ended up with no faith. Like a ship without a rudder, they were tossed about3 and finally shipwrecked their lives in Christ.

Good News

Paul made it clear that Timothy must cling to the Gospel like a man or woman in the ocean clings to a raft. The same is true for each of us that are in Christ Jesus. Ciing On!

Photo by Tom Fisk:

#Biblestudy #devotional #christianposts


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[1]: John 8:44
[2]: Romans 1:16
[3]: Ephesians 4:13-15

father disciplining adorable attentive son at home

Discipline Is not Punishment.

I’ve noticed that Americans are very sloppy with the words we write and speak. We say that we love our child, and we love ice cream. Just this one sentence has probably earned enormous sums of money for therapists. Consider these conversations:

Adult: Why did my Dad love me like ice cream?
Therapist: Perhaps he wished you would melt away.

And then we have a problem with speaking. What we say is barely comprehensible from the written words.

Written: “James, be sure to wash your hands today.”
Spoken: “Jimmy, be sure to warsh yer hands ta-day.”

We all have certain misspoken words that literally drive us nuts. 😉 It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard when we hear “worshed” instead of “washed.” My pet peeve is when people say “ta-marrow” instead of “tomorrow.” It’s painful for me to hear Annie in “Annie, the Musical” sing, “Ta-morrow! Ta-marrow. I love ya ta-marrow! You’re only a day away!” And, how many times have you heard someone say punish when they meant discipline?

Mom: “Jimmy, this is the last time I’ll clean candy out of your jeans pocket! They went through the wash today and left a gooey mess. You will scrape that mess out and then handwash your jeans as your punishment.”
Dad: “Jimmy, that was a bonehead thing to do. If you do it again, your mother will kill you.”

With our language being as wonky as it is, it’s easy to mix up the meaning of words when we read the Bible. Mom didn’t mean punishment; she meant discipline. On the other hand, Dad implied punishment but not a capital offense.

Compare these two verses:

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” 1 John 4:18 (New Living Translation)

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” Hebrews 12:7 (New Living Translation).

We are promised by God that if we are His child, we no longer face His punishment. Because God is our Father, He disciplines us. All discipline is love in action with an expectation of improvement. No one disciples a pet or a kid if they don’t love them. All discipline is intended to help, to guide, to nurture. How can we not rejoice in God’s discipline? Discipline is not punishment.

There is a day when judgment will come. On that day, God will hate everyone who rejected His sacrifice, Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb. These people will not receive discipline. They will receive eternal, unending punishment. God will not expect their improvement. Each will bow before Jesus, but their bow is the surrender of the conquered, not the bow of worship.

So, praise God! The love we enjoy from our Father has no fear, and all discipline is His love in action. He has expectations for us. That’s exciting! Who does He see when He looks at us? Oh God, bring your discipline. Help us to be that person You see in us!!

Photo by Monstera


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Man tying a boat rope

Tying Loose Ends

The clock keeps moving us closer to the end of the year. As we draw closer to the closure of this year, it’s wise for us to do some spiritual house cleaning. Have we paid our tithe, have we forgiven everyone that may have caused us harm, whether through intent or ignorance, are we reconciled with our fellow descendants of Adam? Is there anything we promised that we’ve left undone? Have we gone to the Lord our God and sought His forgiveness for sins of commission and sins of omission?

The way God forgives us, so we are to forgive others. “For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”, King Hezekiah proclaimed (Isaiah 38:17 ). As God forgives, so we should forgive others.

No Fishing

Corrie ten Boom, in her book Tramp for the Lord, wrote: It was 1947–. I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives. It was the truth they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander’s mind, I like to think that that’s where forgiven sins are thrown. “When we confess our sins,” I said, “God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever–. Then God places a sign out there that says ‘No Fishing Allowed'”

Thankfully, the one true God is long-suffering (2 Peter 3:9), He is impartial (Acts 10:34), and He stands against the mistreatment of people (Zechariah 7:10). Our God has relieved us from retribution for He has said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19). 

Good Deeds

God keeps track of us, and none of our good deeds go unnoticed by Him (Hebrews 6:10). He is righteous and just. (Psalm 89:14). And, He forgives (Peter 2:24Isaiah 43:25)

No, I’ve not forgotten about Christmas, Christ’s mass. We’ll talk about that as that time draws nearer. But, today, I thought it best to remind us of God’s character and His extraordinary expectations of us in 2019.

Photo by Free To Use Sounds on Unsplash

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