Hands Up!

To most individuals in our society, surrender is a dirty word.  For the month of  August I hope to persuade you that surrender does not mean giving up.  I devote an entire chapter to this subject in 13 Decisions That Will Change Your Life.  God often uses situations, people, and yes even loss to get out attention and convince us of the need to surrender.  Even a peek into the Old and New Testament reveals Deborah's surrender to leadership, Saul's rebellion to surrender,  David's up and down attitude toward surrender.  But of course Jesus' surrender is the most magnificent of all. Anything less pales before that example.  How are you doing with surrender today?

God's Provision in Forgiveness

And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His.  When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself. (Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place)

If you've had many adventures in your Christian walk, you understand that sometimes the Lord asks you to do something you feel unequippred to carry out.  Biblical characters felt that through the Old and New Testaments.  Every one felt inadequate either in the their education, prowess, intelligence, or purity. But at the eleventh hour, God came through.

Corrie lets us know that when she face her most bitter opponent and offered friendship, God furnished the feelings to accompany the act.  When you forgive and love your enemies, God provides the love.

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Tough Love

Forgiving someone close to me was the hardest thing I have ever done.  Of course like the Tom Hanks character in "A League of Their Own" said (in reference to baseball), "If it was easy everyone would do it."  And therein is the rub. 

In order to forgive you must bear the pain, decide to let the wound heal, vow to put it behind you, and offer love to the offender.  Not a bad recipe if you only have to see that person once or twice a year, but what about at all the family holidays, birthdays, Christmas, every other weekend, at funerals, gravesides, and all social events?  Each time takes a piece of your soul.  That is unless, "you forgive your brother from your heart" (Matthew 18:35 NIV)

And while you are dispensing grace to another, don't forget to take a heaping helping for yourself.  Forgiveness and grace combined are the antidote to bitterness and a life filled with fear.