Musings

Hi how are you all today? I am okay just fatigued from a virus. Praying I will feel better soon. I had a lovely holiday at the coast last week. I rested lots because I wasn’t well but that was good. The weather is nice at the moment as the humidity has decreased. How is the weather where you live?

This week I just want to share some thoughts with you. As I was writing my second book last week, I was thinking about forgiveness and have written a couple of chapters on it. I realised that whilst forgiving others is an act of faith, there is a wrestle going on. Have you ever wrestled with unforgiveness in your life?

You know the wrestle I mean. Okay God I forgive them but….. Forgiving others is unconditional. How do I know that? Because in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew it states “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”.

We want Gods forgiveness towards us to be unconditional. Our expectation is that God is so big and because Jesus died on the cross, our sins will automatically be forgiven if we believe in Jesus and repent. But we expect others need to suffer in their sins before we forgive them. This is hypocritical and often where the wrestling takes place.

Forgiving others frees us. Read that again. We are no longer in bondage to them. Unforgiveness holds us in bondage. We are held by bitterness, continuous thoughts of their wrong doing, pay back strategies etc. Please forgive them so you can be free.

The best parable on forgiveness is the one titled the unforgiving servant. It is found in Matthew 18:21 to 35. It is the story of where the king forgives the servant a massive debt but the servant couldn’t forgive another persons small debt.

The price Jesus paid to forgive us was massive and higher than any price we will ever pay to forgive others. So let’s just forgive so Jesus can forgive us.

The other musing I had this week was around actions and identity. I think this is best explained in a parent/ child relationship. Even when the child does something wrong, their identity is never brought into question. Their identity is a son or daughter of the parent ( dependent on the birth). This identity in the child’s life never changes.

But their actions could change the parent’s response. If the child does the wrong thing, the parent may discipline them and the discipline may be painful. Identity, however has not changed.

The Bible states that God disciplines those He loves. The verse contains both identity and action. Identity is those God loves and the action is God disciplines. They are two separate and distinct things but our identity may determine who can correct us.

Let’s have a look at this from a Christians viewpoint:

1. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. This is our identity but if our actions aren’t right, then our wrong actions don’t change our righteousness identity.

2. We are Gods children but as stated above when God disciplines us that is action but our identity is still Gods child.

3. We are redeemed is our identity but it doesn’t mean we won’t sin which is an action.

4. We are dearly loved by God which is identity but it doesn’t mean we are always loveable which is action.

5. We are a new creation in Jesus which is identity but it doesn’t mean the old man will never raise its head which is action.

6. We are free from sin, shame and bondage which is identity but it doesn’t mean that circumstances around us won’t try to force us back into bondage which is action.

We need to know our identity in God so when temptations come we know Whose we are.

These are just two of my musings from last week. I hope you found them helpful.

Until next week, bless you heaps and keep living the life God intended for you.

Karen