2022-03-12
Luke 7:47 CEV
One day, Jesus was eating at the home of a Pharisee when a prostitute came in. “The woman kissed his feet and poured… perfume on them. The Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and said to himself, ‘If [Jesus] really were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him!'” (vv. 38-39 CEV). But Simon the Pharisee got it wrong. It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t know, it’s that He didn’t care! That day, He forgave her sin and sent her on her way redeemed, restored, and redirected.
This story confirms what we already know; Jesus came to save sinners on the street and hypocrites in the church. No one is beyond the reach of His grace. With that in mind, think this way: (1) Never forget what God saved you from! Note what Jesus told Simon the Pharisee: “Anyone who has been forgiven for only a little will show only a little love” (v. 47 CEV). Remembering the sins of his past, David wrote: “He… brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay… set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth – praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord” (Psalm 40:2-3 NKJV).
(2) Remember that Jesus isn’t looking at your past but at your future. The crowd saw this woman as a weed, but Jesus saw her as a rose, and He watered it. Bottom line: If you need forgiveness today, come to Jesus. And if you have been forgiven, pour out your heart to Him in praise.
Soul food: Exo 39-40; Luke 16:1-18; Ps 135; Pro 7:21-23
2021-12-29
Deuteronomy 30:6 NIV
Hebrew baby boys went through the rite of circumcision. It signified that they were in a covenant relationship with God in which He promised to protect, guide, and bless them. And in the New Testament, Paul “spiritualizes” this rite. “True circumcision…is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit” (Romans 2:29 NLT). Spiritually understood, circumcision means “cutting off” anything that promotes and produces in us wrong impulses and actions.
Jesus said, “Those whose hearts are pure…will see God” (Matthew 5:8 NLT). When your heart is pure, you will be able to see God where others can’t and hear Him when others don’t. The word pure could be translated “without contamination.” It’s the difference between a clear stream and a polluted one. It means your self-centered thinking is abandoned and your carnal nature is crucified.
The difference between forgiveness and cleansing is like the difference between cutting off a weed at the ground and pulling it up by its roots. Forgiveness deals with the “result” of sin – that’s easy to identify. But cleansing deals with the “cause” of sin – that’s not so easy to identify because it deals with your natural traits and character flaws. Forgiveness comes by confession, but cleansing comes by walking in the light: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light…the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 NIV).
Do you keep asking God to forgive the same sins over and over? That’s because you need to experience true cleansing. Your heart needs to be circumcised. And that’s a job for the Holy Spirit.
Soul food: 1 Cor 12-14; Matt 2:16-23; Ps 139:13-24; Prov 31:28-29
Deuteronomy 30:6 NIV
Hebrew baby boys went through the rite of circumcision. It signified that they were in a covenant relationship with God in which He promised to protect, guide, and bless them. And in the New Testament, Paul ‘spiritualises’ this rite. ‘True circumcision…is a change of heart produced by [God’s] Spirit’ (Romans 2:29 NLT). That change of heart calls for cutting off anything that encourages and produces in us wrong impulses and actions.
Jesus said, ‘Those whose hearts are pure…will see God’ (Matthew 5:8 NLT). When our hearts are pure, we’ll be able to see God where others can’t and hear Him when others don’t. The word pure could be translated ‘without contamination’. It’s the difference between a clear stream and a polluted one. It means our self-centred thinking is abandoned and our earthly nature is crucified.
The difference between forgiveness and cleansing is like the difference between cutting off a weed at the ground and pulling it up by its roots. Forgiveness deals with the ‘result’ of sin – that’s easy to identify. But cleansing deals with the ’cause’ of sin – that’s not so easy to identify because it deals with our natural traits and character flaws. Forgiveness comes by confession, but cleansing comes by walking in the light: ‘If we walk in the light, as he is in the light…the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin’ (1 John 1:7 NIV).
Do you keep asking God to forgive the same sins over and over? That’s because you need to experience true cleansing. Your heart needs to be changed. And that’s a job for the Holy Spirit.
1 Cor 12-14; Matt 2:16-23; Ps 139:13-24; Prov 31:28-29
2021-02-21
Philippians 3:13-14 AMPC
We all have a “past.” It’s filled with hurts others have done to us, mistakes that got us into trouble, and things we’re so ashamed of we wouldn’t dare talk openly about them. What to do? There are only two things you can do with your past: focus on it, or forget it and move on.
If you need forgiveness, ask God for it, receive it by faith, learn from your mistakes, and try to do better next time. Paul wrote: “One thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward” (vv. 13-14 AMPC). Note the words “my one aspiration.” Before Paul met Christ, he routinely imprisoned and executed Christians and shut down churches. And what’s more, he got paid for it! Maybe that’ll make you feel a little better about your past. Now, however, Paul had only one aspiration: “straining forward to what lies ahead.”
When you fail by sinning, you compound your failure by obsessing over it and wallowing in guilt. Why? Because God has provided forgiveness for you! So whether you sinned twenty years or twenty minutes ago, there’s nothing you can do about it except to ask God for forgiveness, receive it, put it behind you, and move on. You must let go of yesterday’s mistakes in order to grasp today’s blessings. When you learn to do that, you will enjoy life the way God intended.
Soul food: 1 Sam 3:1-11; Acts 9:1-9
Philippians 3:13-14 AMP
We all have things in our past that play on our minds. The past is often filled with hurts others have done to us, mistakes that got us into trouble, and things we’re so ashamed of we wouldn’t dare talk openly about them. But what can we do about it? We can’t change what’s happened, so the alternatives are: focus on it, or let it go and move forwards.
Focusing on the past means we take our eyes off God and His plan, and we stop moving into the future and the blessings He’s got for us. So we need to choose to move forwards. If we need forgiveness for anything in our past, we should ask God for it, receive it by faith, learn from our mistakes, and try to do better next time. Paul wrote: ‘One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’ (vv.13-14 AMP).
Before Paul met Christ, he imprisoned and executed Christians and shut down churches. But after, Paul had only one goal: ‘reaching forward to what lies ahead’. He refused to let his past mistakes prevent him from receiving God’s future.
When we fail, we can make things worse by obsessing over it and wallowing in guilt instead of taking hold of the forgiveness God offers to us. There’s nothing we can do about past sins and mistakes except to ask God for forgiveness, receive it, let the past go, and move forwards. We have to let go of yesterday’s mistakes in order to grasp today’s blessings and enjoy the life God intended for us.
1 Sam 3:1-11; Acts 9:1-9
