Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

O Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness,

that you may be feared. – Psalm 130:1-4

We all fail. We fall short, mess up, and yes, even sin. It doesn’t sound encouraging, or very much like good news, but wait, we’ll get there.

It is easy to get overwhelmed by faults and failures, and to let our focus on them make them seem even larger and more numerous. It is no wonder that we work so hard to ignore and dismiss them. We create cute sayings that make them seem less important. We try to redefine the rules of life so that it appears no one fails. Though we try to make it seem insignificant , somewhere inside, we still feel the weight of it. The good news is, God has a better plan.

The Psalmist recognized his brokenness, and rather than running from it, trying to hide it, or embracing it, he cries out to God to heal it. In an honest moment with the Creator, he declares the weight and pain of sin, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”

The temptation is to believe that God sees us the way we see ourselves. We envision God, scorecard and red pen in hand, keeping a record of our failures. The further we go, the longer the list seems to become, until the weight is so great we cannot bear up under it, but God’s thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways. Once again, God has a better plan.

I know there are times in my journey when it feels like my choices change God’s thoughts of me. I’ve even bought into the lie that my failures, my sin, create such a separation between us that God probably doesn’t want to even talk with me. Those are precisely the times that I need to remember that all of Scripture declares God’s love, that the lens through which God looks at me is compassion and forgiveness.

With God, there is always forgiveness, there is always healing, there is always hope. Jesus did not come into the world and offer himself, so that we could learn to be at peace with our brokenness. He came to heal that brokenness, forgive our sin, and give us new life. As Jesus’ words in John 10:10 close, he says, “I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly.”

Like the Psalmist, we can see the weight of our brokenness, but we can allow that knowledge to bring us to a place of awe and wonder because, “With you (God) there is forgiveness.” Rather than being crushed by the weight of our failures, we can we can experience the freedom of forgiveness. God did not wait for you to awaken this morning so that you could be reminded of your failures and hide. Instead, heaven was waiting for you to arise in the love of God and be free.

So, today is a good day, to accept God’s perspective, God’s truth, and love in the forgiveness and freedom Jesus gives us. We can release the weight of our own failure, walk in the joy of freedom, and go into the world to offer God’s compassion, forgiveness, and freedom to all who will receive it.

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I have a list of experiences I regret. Actions and choices that seemed to fulfill at the time led to personal pain, and often had a significant negative impact on the people around me. There are words that were better unspoken, choices that were tremendously unhealthy, and actions that were based in great selfishness.

Like many others I know, I frequently commented on how I wish I made better decisions, often pondering the, “If I had it to do over again…” thoughts. Certainly, I can see many ways I could have made better choices, but I see those options because of what I learned by making the wrong choice. In fact, it is these very painful experienced that shaped me into the person I am and demonstrated the immense, transforming love of God.

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesian Christians, said he prayed that they would, “know the love of Christ that surpassed knowledge.” (Eph. 3:19) What a powerful and important prayer that was, for it is one thing to know about the love of God, but is something quite different to experience the greatness of that love. Far beyond knowledge is the awesome gift of God’s gracious, forgiving, and transforming love!

Too often, I try to fix the broken places in my life which leads to even greater feelings of frustration and regret. Maybe you can relate to those feelings. What I really need is not another round of trying to work harder. I need to experience God’s healing grace that renews the wounded, broken places of my life and frees me for the new life that lies ahead. Instead of lamenting my past failures, I can allow God to help me leverage them to shape my future.

All of the guilt, regret and sorrow we can muster will never change the past and will only hold us captive where are. The touch of the gracious love of God will free us from the bonds of our history and the present and prepare us for a future of destiny. God does not want to hold us captive to the sin and mistakes of our past. Instead, we were meant to see the door that is now opened to a redeemed and renewed life in Christ.

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There is a stanza in this classic hymn that includes the words, “He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets the prisoner free.” I cannot begin to imagine how many times I sang these words throughout my life, but I remember the day they broke through my filters and I heard them with fresh ears.

In the midst of my own struggle with parts of my past, the idea that canceled sin could still have power gripped my heart. Certainly, God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ is complete, but we can allow those forgiven sins to affect the way that we live. If we choose to perpetuate those former sins, or if we choose to live under their guilt, we will not experience the fullness of life God intended for us.

Too often, we get lost in our past and we miss what God is doing in the present to prepare us for our future. We wallow in self-condemnation, self-pity, or some other burdensome understanding of our lives, while we neglect the freedom that comes from laying such burdens on the Lord. It is a tremendous tool of the enemy to keep us bound in false chains and away from living our destiny in God.

Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, “neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Clearly, there was forgiveness and a call to a better way, but there is also the promise that living beyond sins of the past is truly possible, especially in light of the power of God to make it so.

While at a pastor’s prayer retreat, the leader of one of our sessions offered the following insight:

Anytime the devil brings up your past it is because…
1) He hopes you are ignorant of the truth
2) He fears your future
3) He wants to rob you of God’s best

There is powerful truth in those words. Just like the truth found in the words of the hymn reveals the power of cancelled sin to imprison us, the revelation shared at that retreat reminds us that our past is in the hands of God and through his mighty acts of salvation, we are no longer a slave to that past. We need to know the truth that we are delivered from our past, that God has a future for us, and that evil is always working to steal God’s best from our lives, but we do not have to surrender it.

If we are walking with God, it is time to lay down the heavy weight of our past and its sins. It is time to embrace the freedom and newness of life given to us by God while we walk in its joy and wonder. It is time to allow the Holy Spirit to break the power of canceled sin and set us free from our self-made prisons. It is time to live the abundant life that is already ours.

Today is a great day to leave the weight of our past behind, choose life and walk in it toward the future divinely created for us. May it be so.

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It would have been easy to spew out anger and frustration, but accidents really do happen, and the easy path is typically not the Christ-like path. Who knows how many people shared their anger with her before I arrived, or what was happening in the rest of her life. She did not need another angry customer, she needed to experience grace, love and forgiveness, just like we all do. It can be challenging to extend grace and forgiveness, but since we need it in our own lives and continue to receive it from God, shouldn’t we try to share it with others?

Jesus told a story about a man who owed his employer an excessive sum of money, an amount he could never fully repay. When he was brought before his employer he appealed for grace and in an unexpected act of love, his entire debt was forgiven. It is a wonderful expression of unmerited favor, and a beautiful illustration of God’s loving grace. If the story ended there, it would be great, but Jesus went on to tell how this man, forgiven of a great debt, received such grace only to search out a man who owed him a small sum, accosting him and demanding he repay the money immediately. His fellow workers were so disturbed by his actions they went to the employer to report what happened. The story ends with the employer calling the man “wicked” for receiving great grace and yet, being unwilling to share grace with others.

You and I receive great grace from God. We experience divine love and forgiveness, when we do not deserve it. God forgives our grand debt and then sends us forth to represent that same grace to others. It can be difficult to share, but when we recognize the great grace we receive, the difficulty seems to vanish, and we go forth to comfort others with the same comfort we received from God.
What happened in the restaurant was a small thing that required only a small sacrifice on my part. Considering the significant forgiveness I needed, and continue to need from God, it was the only reasonable response. I only wish I recognized it more frequently. Too often, I respond with my emotions, rooted deeply in a false view of what I am entitled to and a distorted sense of my importance. Like the man in Jesus’ parable, I celebrate God’s grace, only to withhold it later when it should have be freely given.

Grace really is too great a gift not to be shared. When we humbly recognize our need for grace, we can offer it to others in the same spirit and trust that God will use the moment to bless the giver as well as those who receive. With our attention turned outward, maybe we will see the “grace moments” all around us and lovingly share the amazing grace we love to sing about and receive. Then, others will have the chance to experience the gift with us.

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It is difficult to take responsibility as a child, fearing the repercussions of your actions. It turns out, taking responsibility is difficult for adults as well. We hear similar expressions of our youthful cries when someone says, “I didn’t cause the problem, why should I have to care?” This, and the many other variations of, “This isn’t my register,” occuir frequently. Sometimes, we are the ones saying it.

It is true that many problems and challenges we encounter are not directly our fault, but that does not mean we have no responsibility to respond. Even in circumstances obviously caused by someone else’s actions, we are still called to act as God’s representatives and take responsibility for what we can do to make things better.

In the book of Proverbs, we find many simple, yet deeply challenging axioms. In a section the New International Version titles, “Wisdom Bestows Well-Being,” we find this call to action, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.” (3:27)

Ask yourself, “to whom is good due?” It would be easy to answer the question by suggesting some form of karma, that good is due to those who do good. We could reply by suggesting that good should be shown to who earn it, those we like, or those we feel warrant it. The deeper question we must ask in our search is, “who deserves good in God’s eyes?” God offers goodness to many unlikely candidates. In fact, the Scripture even says that God’s kindness leads to repentance, which clearly means that God shares goodness with those who have not earned it, in order to lead them closer to him. Maybe, we could say, “We should not withhold good when it is in our power to offer it.”

Following the ascribed title for this section, we can see how the wisdom of God leads us to make choices that create well-being, ours and others. When we walk in God’s ways, our lives will experience the richness of God’s presence and peace. We will also find ourselves putting our faith into action, blessing others with goodness and kindness as we are able.

It is easy to bless and care for those we love and who care for us. The bigger, and more meaningful, expression of our connection with Christ is the ability to offer goodness to those we find challenging to love. Just as we are called to forgive others just as we have been forgiven, so too, we should offer blessing, kindness and goodness just as we have received these gifts from God. After all, we know how much it means that God would bless us, being good and kind to us in spite of our sin. Therefore, it should be all the easier to be a blessing to others.

It would be convenient to claim no responsibility in these circumstances, but we really are responsible. Laying it at the feet of someone else may seem attractive, but it denies that God brought us into those circumstances for a reason. If we will live with open eyes and open spirits, we will see the needs around us and recognize the power of God at work within and through us to touch those needs in his name. What an opportunity to be the Gospel to others, and what a blessing it is to embrace that opportunity.

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Recently, I was browsing religion and faith blogs to find some personal inspiration and to make connection with other bloggers with similar interests. I found a number of interesting sites and posts and even discovered a couple of blogs I enjoyed so much I added them to the Cafe’s Favorite Places. It was wonderful to find places of inspiration for the daily journey and places that challenge me to grow in my faith and understanding.

What shocked me during the search, were the number of places I encountered that were, well, the only word I know for it is, “angry.” These were places where it seemed every post was dedicated to something,or someone, the author was against. It seemed like I dropped in on people who were fighting, mad, and frustrated, and everyone of these sites claimed to be Christian.

Now, I do not want to sound harsh or judgmental. Maybe, these authors had a passionate reason for their emotion. Maybe, I just found a few negative sites, and of course, each person’s blog is their place to determine what seems best to post. The experience, however, started me thinking about the number of people I meet who claim to know Jesus Christ, who affirm the presence of Christ in their lives through the Holy Spirit, who also seem to be overflowing with harsh judgment and anger.

To be fair, if you were with me at times when someone dangerously cuts me off while driving, or in similar challenging circumstances, you might be tempted to ask the same questions about me Though, I am getting better. We all have places where our attitudes and actions don’t quite match up to our beliefs, but just because we share this struggle, does not make it acceptable, or something we should ignore. We are called to live a life worthy of the high calling of Jesus Christ, so we should always be seeking to grow more Christlike.

Once, while attending a youth retreat, the leader taught us a cute song based upon a verse of Scripture. I could sing it, but that just doesn’t come across well in the written text. Some of you may know the tune, but the words are what really matters, “Be ye kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” This verse from Ephesians 4:32, is so simple in its meaning and direction, yet it seems so difficult to put into practice. I am called, you are called, to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving, and this is not just a one-time event. We do not offer kindness one day and then check it off of our life list of to-dos. Rather, we are called to make these virtues a part of who we are and practice them daily.

The motivation and the power to live out this verse come from the knowledge and experience of God working in our lives. Since God shows kindness, tenderness and forgiveness toward us, we too, should share that experience with others. In doing so, we become tiny mirrors, reflecting what God does in our lives into the lives of others. When we recognize the grace we have, and continue to receive from God, it becomes easier to offer that same gift to others.

Instead of being known for anger, frustration and criticism, we could be remembered as the people who had compassion, grace and love. That certainly sounds like Jesus, and what would happen if people experienced Christians who took this simple verse from Ephesians to heart and became, as James said, “doers of the word?” It is a simple lesson and yes, it is hard to apply, but the impact we can make for God and for good in the world makes the effort worth it.

May the kindness, compassion and forgiveness of God be yours and may you share them broadly to the glory of God’s name.

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I am especially thankful because I know that I am not an especially patient person. Part of me still echoes my younger voice, asking repeatedly, “Are we there yet?” I do not wait well and anticipation can make me anxious.

The challenging part of this self-knowledge is that I know it reveals a part of my ego that has yet to fully submit to God. Not long ago, I read somewhere that ego can be an acronym for “Edging God Out” and truthfully, I see that in my impatience.

I am not being hard on myself, just real. When I become impatient and want things to go my way and to go that way now, I am putting myself first and thinking more highly of myself than I ought. The root of impatience is the belief that the world exists to serve me and make me happy. That is a far cry from the revelation of scripture.

My life in Christ is about putting him first and serving others in his name. I am called to “humbly consider others more esteemed than myself.” that is not always an easy task, but it is my call nevertheless. It is the call of all who claim Christ and seek to grow in his likeness. By serving others, we serve Christ and we represent the heart of God who demonstrates his love for us through great sacrifice.

I am thankful form the patience I receive from others and I pray that God will increase my sensitivity to the need to offer the same gift to others. Today, I share the prayer of John the Baptist that I may decrease so that Christ may increase, and I pray that together, our witness will lead others to experience the patient love of God.

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My devotions recently led me to a wonderful reflection on kindness in the form of a story from the ancient Christians:

Abba Moses was asked to travel to another community to pass judgement on someone caught in sin. He refused to go, but the pressure for him to make the trip continued. Finally, he agreed to make the journey. As he left, he took a basket, poked a few holes in it, filled it with sand and set out. Along the way, many asked the point of the leaky basket to which he replied, “My sins are running out behind me.” The people understood and the one found in sin was immediately forgiven.

The one who understands they have been forgiven much, understands the need to offer forgiveness to others. When we grasp the kindness of God toward us and the blessing on the kindnesses we’ve been shown along the way by others, we respond by being kind to others. No one can be aware of God’s great kindness and not, in turn, be kind.

If we are truly putting our faith into practice, then kindness will be a hallmark of our attitude and actions. It is an expression of our faith and a litmus test for where we are on our spiritual journey.

When we consider the injustices we face, the rudeness we experience, and unkindness of the world, we can feel justified in being unkind ourselves. But, when out attention is on the loving kindness of God, there is no such justification, no matter what our circumstances. We can stand up for justice and righteousness. We can hold up truth and mercy. But, we cannot do these things without kindness. Even in our most powerful defense of our position, we cannot know the kindness of God, and choose to be unkind.

In this season, where we sing about peace on earth, and where we remember the power of God’s love toward the whole world, it is time to do more than sing and talk, it is time to act.

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians said, “Be kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” (4:32)

May those who know us and those who meet us, experience this kindness in all we say and do. Let us look at our own lives in light of the kindness we receive, that we may see others through the lens of that kindness, and let us bless others with the very blessing we received.

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With all of those considerations in mind, I still believe that the most meaningful part of God’s character to my life is the abundance of patient grace. I look back over my life and I am amazed how overwhelmingly patient God was, and is, with me. I am struck by what a slow learner I can be, and by how easily I am distracted from what I’ve been taught by God. I wonder if I have even a portion of that patience with the people in my life.

I am struck by how that patient grace shapes my life as God gently, and sometimes not so gently, guides me along the right path and brings me back to it from my occasional departures. It would be so easy for God to grow weary with me, yet that never happens. In fact, it seems like the more I chafe, wander and struggle, the more God steps in to remind me of his love, forgive me of my sins, and empower me to take the right, next step.

Often others, the devil and even I, speak words of judgement and defeat over my life, yet God, like a gentle, loving parent, chooses a different path – the path of patient grace. His words are filled with compassion, hope and promise. God sees what I cannot always see in myself and calls it forth from within me.

I can only speak for my own journey, but I know that I will be forever grateful for the blessing of that grace. I know that when I am aware of it working in my life, I feel God’s divine strength enabling me to become who I was made to be in him. Many people I know struggle with their past and their failures, but I thank God that we are not defined by them.

God said, and says, “Behold, I make all things new.” The Holy Spirit working in us can overcome our past and our present and lead us into the future we were destined to live. Won’t you join my in confessing with so many others like us, “I may not be where I want to be, but I’m sure not where I used to be! Thanks be to God!”

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As hard as it is for us to grasp, God designed us to be in relationship with others and the quality of those relationships can affect other areas of our physical and spiritual lives. When we harbor unforgiveness and bitterness, we can find our bodies suffering and our faith flailing. Some studies have even linked these powerful internalized emotions to health issues, including severe arthritis.

Now no one would suggest that everyone suffering with a physical illness is suffering because of unforgiveness or hatred, but these attitudes do influence our lives in ways we do not expect. They certainly have profound influence on our spiritual lives. The Scripture declares that love in our relationships leads to our abiding in the light, and destructive attitudes in relationships can lead to spiritual blindness that will prevent us from moving forward on our faith journey.

God wants us to walk in the light, because God wants us to prosper and be in health. He wants us to tap into the awesome power of right relationships and appropriate attitudes. Just as we desire the best for those we love, so God desires the best for us because His love for us is perfect. God also takes the first step in modeling the heart of love and forgiveness by loving us into right relationship with Him. We are reminded that God proves His love toward us in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

God took action to restore our relationship with Him while we were still living in opposition to Him. He made the way for us to receive full forgiveness, and now He asks us to be like Him and offer love and forgiveness to others, even before they have earned our forgiveness. When we are obedient to this call of God on our lives, we receive His pleasure and we receive His blessing. Our willingness to love as God loves and to forgive as we have been forgiven turns on the light of heaven in our lives and removes the cause of stumbling.

If you honestly desire God-given victory in you life, take the first step and be sure that you are protected from spiritual blindness. Don’t let someone else keep you from your blessing and potentially your destiny. Make a decision to let healthy God-led relationships be the norm in your life. Refuse to let offense settle in, or allow wounds to fester. Follow God’s steps in Matthew 18 to heal damaged relationships and allow the Holy Spirit to search you and lead you into the wholeness God has for.

There truly is an awesome power to be found in unity and love. Let the Lord lead you into His very best for you and trust Him to give you the power to release past hurts and struggles, all for the purpose of experiencing the beauty of a life lived in the light of love.

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