Ask Forgiveness Fast

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

Jesus describes a worshiper who has come to offer a gift to God, but has breached a relationship with a brother or a sister. This gift is unacceptable to the Lord until the one presenting the gift is reconciled to the one more valuable to God than the offering. It is inconsistent to seek reconciliation with God without first seeking reconciliation with those the Lord has placed in our life. We ask forgiveness from the one we offended on earth, before we ask forgiveness from God in heaven.

In prayer or worship, who clouds your mind with concern over a disconnected relationship? Who does the Holy Spirit lay on your heart, who has something against you? Maybe you made an insensitive remark that hurt a friend’s heart. Or, you forgot to invite an individual to a special occasion and they felt ignored and rejected. Perhaps a business relationship went awry and you need to ask forgiveness for being greedy. Go quickly, humble yourself and ask forgiveness. The amount of time it takes to seek reconciliation is an indicator of how closely you walk with Christ.

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 1 John 4:19-21

Forgiveness cannot sit still until hearts are healed. Initiative accompanies love. Sometimes it is helpful to write out what you are feeling and how you want to express your contrite heart. You may or may not send the written correspondence, but at the very least it becomes a guide for your conversation. Moreover, make sure to own your offense by not saying, “If I have offended you.” Instead, say, “Please forgive me for hurting you. I was mad, my tone was wrong. I apologize.” Godly sorrow goes a long way toward facilitating forgiveness from the one offended.

Yes, your efforts to reconcile may be rebuffed, but you can only give up on someone when your Savior Jesus has given up on them. Also, your restitution may be required before reconciliation will take place. Pray about ways for you to replace what your friend lost, since they felt they were being used. Like Zacchaeus (see Luke 19:8), be extremely generous in your pay back. Most of all, you honor Christ when you take the time to be His minister of reconciliation.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

Prayer: Heavenly Father, give me the courage and conviction to seek out those I offend and ask for their forgiveness. 

~Wisdom Hunters Devotional~

We Beheld His Glory #39

What the Knowledge of God Is (continued)

That is the new covenant, which is no longer for the believer a matter of : Thou shalt, and, Thou shalt not. The Christian is not put under law in the sense that he is bound to do this and that, or may not do this, and may not do that. No, the believer is, if truly a child of God, governed, not by an outward system of permissions or prohibitions, but by an inward law of Divine understanding of the Lord's will on the basis of a living fellowship with Him. It is a blessed thing to see believers giving a manifestation of the fact of their having in their own hearts a knowledge of the Lord, of knowing what the Lord would have them do. That they do not do things because it is expected of them by others, and do not refrain from doing certain things because of what others would say, they are knowing the Lord in their own hearts. That is the proof that they have come into living fellowship with the Lord Jesus, that they are no longer under the Mosaic economy but under the regime of the Holy Spirit indwelling. Israel blindly - that is, so far as their spiritual sight was concerned - followed the commandments and laws. The child of God intelligently follows the known will of God. This light is connected with Christ as the Life. That means it is a living thing. It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which brings life and peace, and that is the way in which we know the mind of the Lord about any proposed thing. Life and peace, if our fellowship with Him is right; life and peace in our hearts. That is our light. If in any proposed course, before the Lord, we have neither life nor peace, we may suspend that course for the  time being, and we shall find that our so doing will be justified. The Lord no longer says to us directly on matters: Yes, you should do so and so; and: No, you should not do so and so. He now speaks by spiritual laws, not always by verbal phrases, and His speech, the speech of the Spirit, is to spirit first, interpreted afterward by the mind. He speaks in our hearts, and the language of the Spirit is life, peace, rest, or to the contrary.

Now what is needed at this point, is a recognition of what it is that comes to us by a vital touch of Christ upon our spiritual eyes; that is, the content of the light that comes to us. Well, so comprehensive is the answer to that that without exaggeration, it would keep us here for a very long time because it embodies everything that will ever come to us in our relationship to the Lord.

Christ - The Answer to Every Problem

One matter that will come is God's eternal thought concerning man; our place in the original intention of God. That is not a small subject in itself. The answer to the question: "Why am I?" "What have I a being for?" "Why the human race?" That is revealed in the person of Christ. If you apprehend Christ, you have apprehended that. The Incarnation is the answer to the enquiry as to the reason of man's existence. See Christ the Son of Man, and you see what God's thought was for man, and what God's intention is to have concerning man. That is an apprehension of Christ that answers the deepest question of the human heart: "Why am I?"  "Why the race?"  Christ the answer! But that original thought of God was interfered with as first projected, and we see anything but Christ in the race. We see an awful distortion, an awful misrepresentation; but God has not abandoned His thought.

And the second revelation comes in, how? Not now out of nothing but out of a ruin will God get His intention; and we are introduced to the great theme of redemption. How? The answer to that second question How? is, Christ. He is made unto us redemption. The apprehension of Christ is the answer to the question - How? in all this wreck, this ruin of the race. A living apprehension and understanding of Christ answers that. How will God do this thing? Look at Him, apprehend Him by faith, and it is done in you, God has done it. "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a new creation". The seed of the creation wholly conformed to Christ is planted in new birth.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 40)

A God Who Delights in Impossibilities

Believe ye that I am able to do this? (Matt. 9:28).

God deals with impossibilities. It is never too late for Him to do so, when the impossible is brought to Him, in full faith, by the one in whose life and circumstances the impossible must be accomplished if God is to be glorified. If in our own life there have been rebellion, unbelief, sin, and disaster, it is never too late for God to deal triumphantly with these tragic facts if brought to Him in full surrender and trust.

It has often been said, and with truth, that Christianity is the only religion that can deal with man's past. God can "restore the years that the locust hath eaten" (Joel 2:25); and He will do this when we put the whole situation and ourselves unreservedly and  believingly into His hands. Not because of what we are but because of what He is. God forgives and heals and restores. He is "the God of all grace." Let us praise Him and trust Him.

--Sunday School Times

"Nothing is too hard for Jesus
No man can work like Him."

We have a God who delights in impossibilities and who asks, "Is anything too hard for me?"
--Andrew Murray

~L. B. Cowman~

We Beheld His Glory # 38

Christ and the Sabbath Again

There are two other elements here to be noticed. This thing was done on the Sabbath day. Because it was done on the Sabbath day, it roused this fury among the Jewish elders. All the trouble which followed was largely related to that, or at least that was the pretext, it was done on the Sabbath day. The works of God bring those who by nature are blind and in the dark into spiritual enlightenment and understanding, and are connected by the Lord Jesus with the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day is seen all the way through to be a matter of Christ Himself. That is the heart of this chapter; we shall come to that presently. Christ is God's Sabbath: that is,all the works of God are completed in Christ. God comes to His rest in His Son, and looks upon all things in Christ with good pleasure, saying: It is very good. The "It is finished" of Calvary was the establishment of the spiritual truth of the Sabbath rest in the Lord Jesus; and coming into spiritual enlightenment and understanding, is a matter of coming into the finished work of God in Christ. Or to put that another way, a coming into an apprehension of Christ as the One Who has finished the works of God.

The Works of God

The other thing is this remarkable statement in the correct translation, which is not in the Authorized Version - "We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day." That is undoubtedly the correct translation. It is not "I must," it is "we must," and that, being the accurate translation, carries with it something of great importance and value. The Lord links with Himself His Own in the works of God for the enlightenment of those who are blinded and in the dark. He is saying in effect: We, these who are My coworkers, co-partners, to bring into spiritual enlightenment and understanding. Paul entered into those works of God under commission. You remember he tells us what the Lord said to him, as to his commission: that he was to go, and that he should stand before rulers, kings, Gentiles, and that the object was: "... to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God..."  He was one of the workers together with God in opening eyes, that they might turn from darkness to light, and he did it by the Spirit. In our spiritual life we are enjoying the good of all that. You will remember his words in the Ephesian letter 1:18:  "... that... the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know..." And then he tabulates some of the things they might know by way of having their eyes enlightened with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. We, beloved, are called into the fellowship of God's Son in this ministry, and we come right into that little fragment of John 9:4 - "We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day," and the works of God are: "... to open their eyes." Thus they are connected with man's state by nature, of his being born blind.

What the Knowledge of God Is

Now, in connection with the truth of spiritual enlightenment and understanding, it does not come by the presentation of truth. We may have heard much of the truth, and may be well informed in the doctrine, but we may yet be without spiritual understanding. Understanding does not come by a presentation of the truth. Understanding comes by a definite act of Christ in our hearts. It is a work which is done. An apprehension of Christ is not merely along the lines of formulated doctrine. An apprehension of Christ is by reason of a living touch. He touched, He anointed his eyes. It is a living touch. It is an anointing of those inner eyes. There are deeper depths here to which we might go, and these may be touched as we proceed. But recognize what has been said. I want to emphasize, because of Israel's history which comes to its culmination in this chapter; the end of this chapter is the culmination of Israel's history, as a blind people, because there was no inward faculty of spiritual understanding, and yet they had all the oracles of God. You look at such a tremendous passage as Deut. 29:4: "But Jehovah hath not given you an heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day." You know that all the Law had been given; a tremendous presentation of Divine things had been handed to Israel at this point. They had come by a way of wonderful manifestations of God; the very full, rich history of God manifesting Himself in word and in deed, making Himself known to them. Now Moses was closing his career; in a very little while he would sing his song, as in the later chapters of this book (Deuteronomy), and would be buried by God. Gathering all that up, all that history of God's manifestation to them, He said this remarkable thing in chapter 29:4. Leaving the question of God's responsibility in the matter, Moses was simply taking account of the fact that after all they were not seeing, after all they were not hearing. Hearing they did not hear, seeing they did not perceive; having had presented, they did not know in their hearts. Now that history went on and on and on, centuries after Moses, and culminates here in John 9. With all that followed Moses, all the centuries of the monarchy, all the ministry of the prophets, in John 9 they are still blind; they have all this mass of truth but no understanding, no eyes to see, ears to hear, nor hearts to understand. Well might the book of Proverbs put understanding at a high price. Understanding is put above the price of rubies. It is a tremendous thing  is spiritual understanding. It comes in, note, at length, by a living touch with the Lord Jesus, and is a priceless thing. Israel had to obey commands; they did not have understanding. The feature of the new covenant is not obeying commands given us from without, it is having inward revelation of the Lord. "But this is the covenant that I will make ... I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it." The revelation of God is Christ within. "For God ... hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 39)

Build a Little Fence of Trust

"Roll on Jehovah thy way" (Ps. 37:6, margin).

Whatever it is that presses thee, go tell the Father; put the whole matter over into His hand, and so shalt thou be freed from that dividing, perplexing care that the world is full of. When thou art either to do or suffer anything, when thou art about any purpose or business, go tell God of it, and acquaint Him with it; yes, burden Him with it, and thou hast done for matter of caring; no more care, but quiet, sweet, diligence in thy duty, and dependence on Him for the carriage of thy matters. Roll thy cares, and thyself with them, as one burden, all on thy God.
--R. Leighton

Build a little fence of trust
Around today;
Fill the space with loving work
And therein stay.

Look not through the sheltering bars
Upon tomorrow;
God will help thee bear what comes
Of joy or sorrow. 
--Mary Butts

We shall find it impossible to commit our way unto the Lord, unless it be a way that He approves. It is only by faith that a man can commit his way unto the Lord; if there be the slightest doubt in the heart that "our way" is not a good one, faith will refuse to have anything to do with it. This committing of our way must be a continuous, not a single act. However extraordinary and unexpected may seem to be His guidance, however near the precipice He may take you, you are not to snatch the guiding reins out of His hands.

Are we willing to have all our ways submitted to God, for Him to pronounce judgment on them? There is nothing a Christian needs to be more scrutinizing about than about his confirmed habits and views. He is too apt to take for granted the Divine approbation of them. Why are some Christians so anxious, so fearful? Evidently because they have not left their way with the Lord. They took it to Him, but brought it away with them again.

~L. B. Cowman~

We Beheld His Glory # 37

Spiritual Enlightenment

When we come to this point in the gospel (John) we mark a further step in the apprehension of Christ. You will see how, in what seems to be a very matter of fact way, the narrative goes on - "And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth." We have frequently observed, that the things which occurred in the life of our Lord were not just happenings, mere incident, the details of which go to make up a story, but that they come within the compass of a sovereign purpose. Just as there was a spiritual link between the multitude being fed in the wilderness, and the Lord Jesus being given as the Bread of Life, so the principle operates in this event.

This case of a man born blind is marked by features which carry us well out of our depth. Undoubtedly there were a great many blind men in that part of the country at the same time, but this one, with special purposes in relation to a Divine thought, was brought just then into the path of the Lord Jesus. The mystery encircling his case is far too profound for us. The question of the disciples brought out an almost stunning disclosure. "Rabbi, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?" Whether they were the victims of superstition, or whether they were thinking of that part of the Mosaic law which spoke of sins being visited upon children unto the third and fourth generation, the question drew out this statement which we cannot fathom, but which leads to a tremendous issue in spiritual value.

"Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." Thus you see there was an object in this man's condition, and that object governed a sovereign movement by which he came in the path of Christ at that moment. The whole context bears that out and throws a tremendous amount of light upon it.

The Mystery of Israel's Blindness

We note the significant fact which goes to the root of the whole subject, that among all those who were blind in those parts at that time, this man was born blind. Probably a more rare thing than the other. It is not without significance that this particular instance was one of blindness from birth. That represents in principle the whole truth of Christ's coming as the Light. It is taken by the Word of God as settled, never argued but taken for granted, that the race is by nature in blindness, in darkness, that, at best, the natural man cannot see the kingdom nor the things of the Spirit. We saw that with Nicodemus; with all his natural and religious enlightenment, all his intellectual equipment, all that he was in himself by nature, the Lord said to him: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." So that the old birth is a birth without sight, and the new birth is a birth with sight. Man by nature at best is unable to see that which relates to the kingdom of God; man is born blind. Let us remember that this as a spiritual birth was meant, in the first place, to be brought home to Israel or Judaism. It is one of those germ truths which are so much more fully developed in the letter to the Romans. Israel's blindness is proverbial. A whole tragic history is wrapped up in that blindness. There came One Who could and would have given them sight, but they believed not that they were blind, and proved their blindness by crucifying the Lord of Glory.

From the specific application to Israel the truth is expanded to the race, and becomes of universal application. This universal fact is referred to many times in later New Testament writings. But as we proceed with the story we are made aware that this blindness, though surely not in the directive will of God, but the relative, is connected with the works of God. "We must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day."  " ... That the works of God should be made manifest in him." The works of God, then, are related to the natural state of man in his blindness. God's works are to bring him into the place of spiritual enlightenment and understanding.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 38 - "Christ and the Sabbath Again")

It's All About Him

	Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.

—Philippians 3:8

One of the best tools in a believer's evangelistic toolbox is his or her own personal story. It's a way for you to effectively put yourself in the other person's shoes. You can say, "You know what? I used to be this way. And this is the way I thought. This is what I used to do. Then one day, someone shared the gospel with me [or however you came to faith], and here is what happened to me. . . ."

A lot of people don't even know how others became Christians. They might think we were just born this way. They may be shocked to find out that we weren't born this way at all.

How you came to believe in Jesus is your own story, but here are a few tips. When you share your story, don't ever glorify or exaggerate your past. Sometimes we glorify our past. Sometimes the way certain people share their personal stories makes their past sound more appealing than their present. People start thinking,You know, maybe I will stop being a Christian and start doing what you used to do. That sounds like a lot of fun. If you were to really describe the way you were before you knew the Lord, you could acknowledge that you had some fun. You had some laughs. But then you also need to talk about the emptiness and the sin and the guilt.

Don't make your past more appealing than your present. Don't be defined by what you were. Be defined by whose you are. Don't make it all about what you used to do. Talk about who you are now. It is about Him, not about you. It is about His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, and what He has done for you.

~Greg Laurie~