If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20)
It is easy to think we humble ourselves before God: humility towards men will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real.
The insignificances of daily life are the importances and the tests of eternity, because they prove what really is the spirit that possesses us. (Andrew Murray, Humility, Chapter 6)
There is a lie circulated in many Christian circles. Actually, it is also popular in non-Christian therapy. "You must forgive if you want to be forgiven." What heavier burden could I place on another person?
The thought comes from a misinterpretation of part of the Lord's prayer and other passages like it: "Forgive us trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." I have tried to live this false idea out and have placed the burden on other people as well. The story is grounded in a false picture of God.
Somehow this god says that I must prove my gratitude to him by loving and forgiving other people who are disagreeable or even hurtful toward me. He says, "I will withhold my love, peace, and joy and will not forgive you until you love and forgive your enemies."
If this is how God is, Jesus would say to the Samaritan woman, "I will not speak to you until you forgive all the men who have used and abused you as well as all the people who have mocked and excluded you. Living water is only for those who forgive." Maybe he would say to the woman caught in adultery, "I will condemn you until you forgive those men who were about to stone you." Instead of saying, "Neither do I condemn you - go and sin no more", Jesus would just say, "Go and sin no more."
The point that Jesus is making in his parables and sayings about forgiveness is not that we should forgive or that we must forgive, but that those who live in the love and forgiveness of God can forgive. As James Bryan Smith says, people who do not forgive do not lack willpower, but resources. With this truth, when I cannot forgive, I realize that it is the measure of lack of awareness and experience with God's forgiveness of me.
Yes, lack of forgiveness points out hypocrisy in me and in others. I make myself a liar when I withhold forgiveness. The real story, however, is not that God holds a grudge against me until I forgive. Instead, the story is that I need to understand and experience God's forgiveness in my life before I can share it with others. The basic misunderstanding is that I need to forgive rather than sharing Christ's forgiveness with other people as I have received it. "Freely you have received, now freely give." (Matthew 10)
Humility underlies that forgiveness. Humility toward other people indicates that I understand my place before God. Again, this is easy to misunderstand. The narrative is not that I am so low and unworthy before God that I only deserve to be the lowliest scum slave before other people. No, I am loved and gently cared for by God, who is everything to me, so losing to others, serving them, and lifting them up does not take anything from me, but allows me to serve my God through my service and humility toward them. "Whatever you do to the least of these, you do it to me," says Jesus, not as a threat, but as a promise of peace and joy in and with him.
Daily life is the place where this plays out. It is more about how I treat people on the road than how many I invite to church. It is more about what I do for my wife and kids than what I do for the homeless person "out there." It is more about how I do my job at work that how many committees or ministries I serve in at church. Humility plays out in "insignificant" places rather than ones that seem "spiritual" or "important." This is a hard lesson to learn in many ways, but the goodness of God makes it possible for me to be trained and grow in humility and forgiveness.
Lord, Help me to lay aside the false ideas about forgiveness and humility. I want to embrace humility that touches each area of my life. I want to see you as the forgiving One, the humble One, and so find my hope and strength. Open my eyes. Clear out my ears. Let each day bring me a time when I can yield to other people as I yield to you. Amen.
The thought comes from a misinterpretation of part of the Lord's prayer and other passages like it: "Forgive us trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." I have tried to live this false idea out and have placed the burden on other people as well. The story is grounded in a false picture of God.
Somehow this god says that I must prove my gratitude to him by loving and forgiving other people who are disagreeable or even hurtful toward me. He says, "I will withhold my love, peace, and joy and will not forgive you until you love and forgive your enemies."
If this is how God is, Jesus would say to the Samaritan woman, "I will not speak to you until you forgive all the men who have used and abused you as well as all the people who have mocked and excluded you. Living water is only for those who forgive." Maybe he would say to the woman caught in adultery, "I will condemn you until you forgive those men who were about to stone you." Instead of saying, "Neither do I condemn you - go and sin no more", Jesus would just say, "Go and sin no more."
The point that Jesus is making in his parables and sayings about forgiveness is not that we should forgive or that we must forgive, but that those who live in the love and forgiveness of God can forgive. As James Bryan Smith says, people who do not forgive do not lack willpower, but resources. With this truth, when I cannot forgive, I realize that it is the measure of lack of awareness and experience with God's forgiveness of me.
Humility underlies that forgiveness. Humility toward other people indicates that I understand my place before God. Again, this is easy to misunderstand. The narrative is not that I am so low and unworthy before God that I only deserve to be the lowliest scum slave before other people. No, I am loved and gently cared for by God, who is everything to me, so losing to others, serving them, and lifting them up does not take anything from me, but allows me to serve my God through my service and humility toward them. "Whatever you do to the least of these, you do it to me," says Jesus, not as a threat, but as a promise of peace and joy in and with him.
Daily life is the place where this plays out. It is more about how I treat people on the road than how many I invite to church. It is more about what I do for my wife and kids than what I do for the homeless person "out there." It is more about how I do my job at work that how many committees or ministries I serve in at church. Humility plays out in "insignificant" places rather than ones that seem "spiritual" or "important." This is a hard lesson to learn in many ways, but the goodness of God makes it possible for me to be trained and grow in humility and forgiveness.
Lord, Help me to lay aside the false ideas about forgiveness and humility. I want to embrace humility that touches each area of my life. I want to see you as the forgiving One, the humble One, and so find my hope and strength. Open my eyes. Clear out my ears. Let each day bring me a time when I can yield to other people as I yield to you. Amen.
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