Forgiveness

This video was the introduction for the sermon at church this past weekend.  The pastor spoke about forgiveness out of Mark 2 (which I would encourage you to read) in which Jesus forgives the sins of a paralytic and then heals him.  But this video is what stuck with me.  The magnitude, force, and sheer power of forgiveness is determined by the act that is being forgiven.  Forgiving someone for stealing a quarter is something different altogether from forgiving a person for stealing everything I own.  Likewise, the act of forgiving a murderer carries much more weight than forgiving someone who was angry.  Forgiveness is inextricably tied to what is being forgiven.  This is because the severity of a wrong doing is measured by the worth of that which is wronged.  Forgiving a murderer causes us to shake our head because human life is so precious and valuable.  That is why crimes against children are so atrocious.  That is why when I lie to my wife that I have no valentines day plans when I do, you shake your head and laugh.

And herein lies a fundamental truth about God's forgiveness that I think we often lose.  Go back to the story about the paralytic in Mark 2.  As far as we know, the man never really did anything wrong.  Scripture doesn't list any specific sinful actions.  We aren't told how terrible a guy he was.  All we know is that he was a man.  But that is enough to necessitate forgiveness from God.  Why?  Because all of us were born into open rebellion against God (Ephesians 2).  The fact that reading the previous sentence doesn't cause us to burst into tears is proof that we have little understanding of the infinite value of God himself and the sheer evil and wickedness of rebellion against him.  For when we understand the level of our depravity, then His forgiveness becomes so tangible you can taste it.  His grace becomes so thick it is suffocating.  God's forgiveness of me makes the forgiveness of murderer look like my wife forgiving me for misleading her about my intentions for a date in a lame attempt surprise her (which has not yet happened in our marriage).  And when we realize how much we have been forgiven, then we are able to freely forgive others.  And it is this kind of forgiveness that brings about massive individual and corporate life change.  For being forgiven is a motivator like no other to stimulate life change, while giving forgiveness constantly keeps you dependent on the One who first forgave you.

Death

Death is a rather morbid subject, and I doubt seriously that as many people click on this link from facebook as they did when Tebow was in the subject line, but so it goes.  Seven years ago this weekend I watched the AFC and NFC championship games with my dad in a hospital room in Hanford, California.  I had been admitted to the hospital the previous Friday night (January 21, 2005) because, unbeknownst to me at the time, my small intestine had ruptured and I was dying.  My dad had traveled from Anchorage to Hanford on that Saturday and on Sunday we sat there all afternoon watching the football games.  It was a release from the unending pain and undeniable fact that I was a 24 year old fighter pilot in a hospital.  It diverted my attention from reality.  And the reality was, within 10 days I would be written off for dead by surgeons.  Between now and the Superbowl, I would spend five days in surgery and walk on the edge of death.  But that Sunday afternoon while watching football, I never in a million years would have thought that I would have ended up coming so close to dying.  And while I don't remember much from the week and half between coming into the hospital and surgery, I remember being more worried about not flying airplanes anymore than I was of dying.  

As I have thought about this I have come to two conclusions.  First, most of us, while knowing we will die some day (statistics aren't in our favor), don't think it will be anytime soon and are convinced, or at least live as if we are convinced, that we will have ample warning before it happens.  Second, we are more concerned about the legacy we leave rather than whether that legacy leads us to Christ.  The application from these two conclusions is this: first, while we can't live in fear of dying, we must realize that we are not promised tomorrow nor are we promised ample warning followed by a peaceful death (again, statistics not in our favor).  And if we aren't promised tomorrow, we have to do something with the fact that we will die and what happens after death.  Second, worry about getting more of Christ rather than your legacy.  Quick, name your great, great grandfather on your mom's side.  Dad's side?  What did they do?  I bet most people can't, I know I can't.  If you can't name your own great, great grandfather, what makes you think your great, great grandkids will know who you are or how awesome you were?  We have a tendency to think higher of ourselves and our legacy than we probably should.  We live, we die, and then we see Jesus face to face.  Is your life pointing to that meeting being one of joyous fulfillment in finally, at last, seeing God face to face or terror?  

Tebow Madness

So Tebow mania is sweeping the nation and I cannot keep my mouth shut anymore.  And not because of Tebow himself.  I love the guy's faith, the boldness with which he proclaims it, and the way he plays the game.  In fact, this blog has nothing to do with what Tim Tebow has or has not done.  This blog is about the way everyone else has responded, especially evangelical Christians, and specifically with respect to the evangelical response to Tebow's stat line last week against Pittsburg.  

Unless you are living someplace the US postal service doesn't deliver, you have probably heard by now that Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards against the Steelers, 3 years to the day that he sported John 3:16 on his eye black in the national championship game.  He also averaged 31.6 yards per game.  Adam Schefter, an ESPN columnist, wrote an article dealing with these numbers and several other stats involving 316 in that game that is posted on the ESPN website.  And while I think that the attention that John 3:16 is getting from the world is cool, I am kinda flabbergasted by the downright superstitious response of many Christians.

Now don't get me wrong, I root for the Donkeys, did before Tebow played for them, will when he is done playing for them.  I will watch tomorrow's game and root for the Broncos and Tim Tebow.  But this is a game played by grown men in tights.  And I have heard and read many Christians proclaiming as loud as possible how they see God in the football stats.  Praise Jesus (seriously)!  But at the same time, many of them don't, and cannot, see God in their work, families, lives, suffering, illnesses, finances, relationships, etc.  In fact they question where God is.  Do you see the sad dichotomy here?  I could write for hours about the often times sad state of affairs that occurs when you mix faith with competitive sports in America.  I'm a coach, I've seen it first hand - although I have also seen sports used in amazingly positive ways as well.  But quite frankly, I think Satan is more concerned with the outcome of sporting events than Christ.  Nothing like victory to make you think you don't need God and nothing like defeat to make you blame him.  Christ doesn't care about what is going on in a game as much as he cares about what is going on in your heart.  Christ has given Tim Tebow an amazing platform to make much of Christ, and it appears as if Tebow is doing just that.  But Tim Tebow, and only Tim Tebow, will be the one to give an account for how he uses his platform to make much of Christ.  The rest of us will give an account for how we have used our lives to make much of Christ.  What I see and hear from many professing Christians appears to be them vicariously living their "faith" through someone else.  Get off the bench and into the game.  Make much of Christ and proclaim the goodness and power of God in the hard, dark parts of life and not just when a 24 year old in tights trying to keep a dead animal away from other grown men who are also wearing tights puts up 316 yards. 

Fighting the Good Fight

"I have fought the good fight" (2 Tim 4:7).  The imagery of fighting, straining, running the race and struggling are found throughout scripture. Many times, especially in the athletics, the verses containing these exhortations are bent and contorted in an attempt to motivate people to exert themselves in some worldly endeavor.  But what Paul is referring to here is so much bigger.  The Christian life is a fight, it is a war, not against governments or people groups, but against sin and the powers of darkness.  The more I live life the more I am convinced of, and see the truth in this.  But I think more often than not Christians don't see life as a fight, they see it as a vacation.  

I think there may be a couple of reasons for this, including poor teaching and theology and a basic worldview held by many that we are basically good people with a few imperfections rather than a worldview that holds to the truth that we are basically wicked people incapable of good apart from Christ.  But I think an even bigger factor in this is that we have lost the concept of total war and embraced an ideology based on limited engagement.  We want tactical, surgical hits on the things in our life that we don't like, and we expect them to just disappear and go away after a single battle.  The idea of prolonged, drawn out warfare in which all assets are brought to bear agains the enemy and the goal is the complete and utter annihilation of the enemy is not popular in a society that demands instant gratification and shies away from conflict.  Always being on guard gets tiring.  It gets monotonous at times.  It wears a person down.  Which is why the Christian is continually called upon to press into and depend totally on Christ and not their own power.  And we must emphasize that it is a day by day, minute by minute pressing into Christ, not a once and done deal.  It is not as if we call out to Christ and he comes and tactically nukes our issue and then we just go on living life without struggle no longer having to depend on Christ.  No, we continually press into Him and never let our guard down.  We wage war against sin (and I'm not referring to the Christian right's war against abortion and homosexuality, I am referring to the sin in every person ever born, the natural desire of men to chose themselves and the world over God).  The good fight is one that does not end in this lifetime.  It is long, it is hard, and it will exact a toll on whoever engages in it.  But Christ is sufficient and His power to fight never ending.  And at the end, when finally told by our Lord, we may lay down our sword and enter into His rest.