forgiveness – Page 2

Transformative Repentance

May 3, 2017

Living in a perpetual state of repentance is the way to change. We are always in brokenness and there is nothing that keeps our hearts tender like saying we’re sorry, turning around and repenting for the things we have done. It is true you make mistakes every day. Why would you not want to live in repentance? The alternative is to not pay attention to the things you are doing wrong or to rationalize and try to convince yourself and others that the things you have done are not that bad. When you put it that way, it seems like there is only one option. Read More

Grace For All

February 26, 2014

Grace is the only real transformative currency. You have probably learned by now that judging, criticizing and shaming people does not really produce great results. It may change people’s behavior, but in the long run, it just produces more and more shame. You shame your kids, then they feel ashamed and shame their kids. The way out is to find grace for yourself, and you will at that same time find it for others. To some of you, this may seem like cheap grace or “letting people off the hook,” but what else is there? I dare you to try it. Are you holding back on receiving grace for yourself? Read More

Receiving Forgiveness

January 19, 2014

You will be able to forgive others as soon as you are ready to accept forgiveness for yourself. The things we do not forgive in others are the same things we refuse to forgive in ourselves. Alternatively, as soon as you are ready to receive grace into your greatest shame, you will be able to offer the same to another. If you can be forgiven then so can I, and vice versa. Grace reaches both of us at the same time; it is the great equalizer. Read More

Trusting Everyone

January 16, 2014

When you learn to trust, I believe you will begin to trust EVERYONE. Now most of us choose who we trust, which is wise in a way, especially when you are talking about actually entrusting yourself to people. But I believe you can also learn to trust the people who have hurt you continually and will continue to do so. Trusting those who have hurt you looks like this: forgiving them and giving them over to their own devices. Read More

There Is Enough

November 23, 2013

So much of our stress must come from this mentality of scarcity, which is borne of the belief that there is not enough. There is never enough time, money, energy, love, so we hunker down and protect what we do have. We have this irritability that springs from the belief that if we do not fiercely guard our space, time, energy and money, someone will come and take them from us. It’s true: people will take what you give them, and there is also this ethic of going the extra mile and forgiveness. Read More

Growing Down

June 3, 2013

We often think that as we grow spiritually, we will leave people behind. We tend to struggle with how to approach or talk to people we see as “beneath us” because we are just so “spiritually mature.” We act like we have entered some other realm they cannot even come near.

Then I look at Jesus, who embodied perfect consciousness, all wisdom, maturity and strength and I see how he treated people who might have been seen as “beneath him.” Beggars, cripples, the utterly poor, spiritual zeroes, prostitutes, sinners, the demon-possessed, little children – these were his beloveds. He called them to himself, loved them and had a profound effect on them – each one. They were better for having been near him, and something tells me they did not feel belittled, but valued and helped. Read More

So Much Sin to Forgive

November 21, 2012

When spending time with broken people (we all are), it is important to remember that it is a blessed art – to witness their lives is to witness God moving in a real way. It is these people who God says are broken so that he may display his work in them. When you are with them, you are a fortunate watcher of God’s grace being poured into a life, and you may even be the vessel. These people have a certain humility and secret knowledge of the secret of the universe – that the ones who are actually blessed are the ones who are poor in spirit and mourning. It must also be true that God holds a special place for those who have sinned much. There is a strange little song by David Thomas Broughton which goes like this: “God loves a murderer, because there’s so much sin to forgive.” I believe that. God’s grace and love are necessary and his redemptive power is displayed when we are so broken. When those things are received by one who is so far away, it is the most beautiful thing. It is the walking away from grace that creates the great need and great potential for such lovely restoration.