It's the last day of the year! Let's look back over the year. What has the Lord done in your life? What has he carried you through? What blessings has He going you?
Wow! - Brag on God.
Let's look forward. What will you carry with you into this new year? Will you hold on to the hurt? Will you remain in your anger? Will you maintain the grudge?
Now... - Talk to God about these things. What would He have you do? Remember how Jesus teaches us to pray...read all the way to the end this time.
Matthew 6:9-15
"Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, 10 may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 14 “For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will alsoforgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will notforgive you your sins."
You are not the exception to the rule. What happened to you doesn't remove you from Jesus' statement. In your anger, will you obey? In your hurt, will you obey? Through your tears, will you obey?
I read once that choosing not to forgive is like eating rat poison and expecting the rat to die. Forgiving is not forgetting. You can't erase deep hurt from your mind...at least I can't anyway. When I think about the hurts, I choose to pray for those who have hurt me. Please don't think this is easy for me. Many times it's not. But when did something being easy affect my obedience. A child only does something when it's easy. But you and I, we are maturing in our faith. Even when it is difficult we choose to obey our Lord. He is our boss. He has our best interest in mind.
Oh...and you're not off the hook either. Yes you who have no one to forgive. Whom have you offended? Who must you seek out to ask for forgiveness. The Lord knows. I have no idea what you have said. I don't know what you have done. But you do. And they do. And I promise you the Lord does. Do the smart thing...seek forgiveness. Make it right. Remember, your horizontal relationships have a great affect on the vertical one!
For most...this is where you need to stop. Before you do anything else that is "spiritual" in your mind...go and make it right. Make the call. Send the text. Stop by the house. Write the letter.
For the rest of us, let's finish out the year. Today we complete our reading through the book of Psalms!
Psalms chapters 146-150
Proverbs chapter 30
This is an interesting chapter. Take the time to ponder what the writer is saying. What affect does this have on your life?
Tomorrow we kick off a study in Ephesians.
See you in 2015!
Pastor Matt