Too good to be true?

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”- Old adage

June Hunt continues her discussion of the acrostic F-O-R-G-I-V-E-N in Chapter 12 of How to Forgive.

Realize that God means what He says.  Ms. Hunt states that “God’s grace is free- and enough.”  But, she adds, that doesn’t mean God’s forgiveness is accepted.  Jaded adults can be suspicious of something “too good to be true.”  June states suffering from prolonged guilt is a sign you haven’t learned to take God at His word.  June encourages you to:

“Choose to believe what God says.  Thank Him for the gift of His Son, who paid for your forgiveness.  Do both, even if you don’t feel forgiven.”

Give up dwelling on the past.  Ms. Hunt emphatically states that yes, God’s forgiveness is too good.  But it’s true!  By clinging to the past and refusing to forgive yourself, you are playing God with your guilt.  You are claiming the right to undo the forgiveness Christ has extended to you.

Invest time in renewing your mind.  June reminds us that the only time we have is the present moment.  The past we feel so guilty about is gone.  The future we worry about is always out of reach. To forgive ourselves, we must be intentional in actively affirming what we know to be true about God’s grace.  In Ephesians 4:22-23 St. Paul reminds us:

“Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds.”

Today’s question: How hard was it to give up dwelling on the past.  What helped you change your perspective?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Your most powerful weapon”

Too good to be true?

"I missed my chance"

Kyle Idleman continues Chapter 7 of The End of Me by discussing five reasons we may feel disqualified to be chosen.  The first two, “I missed my chance” and “You don’t want me” are presented today.

1.  “I missed my chance.”  This reason for not stepping up is a time disqualification.  The clock has run out.  The buzzer has sounded.  The game is over.  You’ve missed your window of opportunity.  Pastor Idleman comments:

“How sad if some of us think God looks at us and sees an overdue expiration date.”

2.  “You don’t want me.”  Kyle writes that one of the saddest responses he hears when talking to people about serving God is, “God doesn’t want me.  Not after what I’ve done.”

Consider Peter- aka “The Rock.”  After he denied Jesus three times, he retreated to his old life of fishing.   Out on his boat early in the morning, Peter, Kyle theorizes, reflected on the miracle that Jesus had qualified him and the tragedy he’d disqualified himself.  Yet, there Jesus was on the shore, telling Peter work still needed to be done.

Pastor Idleman believes Peter probably was surrounded by jabbering voices all too eager to remind him of his past.  When that happens to you, don’t listen to those voices or take them to heart.  Kyle concludes:

“Coming to the end of me also means allowing Jesus to put an end to the guilt and shame of the past.”

Today’s question: What Bible verses enable you to counter the first two reasons for feeling disqualified to serve?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Your point of disqualification”

"I missed my chance"

God"s yes is louder

The sea was getting rougher and rougher.  So they asked him [Jonah], “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”  “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm.  I know it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”- Jonah 1:11-12

In Chapter 8 of All the Places to Go, John Ortberg concludes his discussion of four reasons that hold us back from saying “yes” to God’s open door.

4.  Our sense to guilt or inadequacy may hold us back.  When Jonah decides to stop running, he thinks his story is over due to his mistake.  As Pastor Ortberg states, however, “God’s yes is louder than my no.”  But Jonah’s “no” is pretty loud, for he tells the sailors to throw him overboard.

To the reader’s amazement, the sailors don’t do it.  Apparently they have more compassion on Jonah than Jonah had on the people of Nineveh.  John points out there’s an important lesson for us here:

“You have to be really careful about judging who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, who is on God’s side and who is not on God’s side.”

Before the sailors tossed Jonah overboard, they invoked Yahweh’s name three times in prayer.  The ship of Tarshish became God’s temple.  God’s story is so big, it’s also about Tarshish.  Jonah thought he’d thwart what God wanted to do.  Just as with Jonah, God is at work in our lives in ways we can’t even begin to dream of.

Today’s question: Following your vocation loss, how has God’s yes been louder than your no?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Going down”

God"s yes is louder