Follower of Christ, Author, Musician
Though I have been a "Christian" for so many years, in many ways I feel life with Christ is a quest in with many troubles and dangers. It is frightfully more dangerous than anyone ever told me at the outset. Any "true" adventure would be, wouldn't it?
This blog is about the adventure of discovery in this quest to follow the one who forged the path to life and true love so many years ago. I have found that the epic rescuing story of Jesus is far more relevant to you and I than we give it credit.
Why am I passionate about reading through the Bible?
Because it has radically changed my life for the better every time I experience a journey through God’s Word.
When I immerse myself in the Bible I gain a grasp of reality as it truly is (aka “grow in faith”) and escape the “matrix” of a deceived and perverse society. I have come to see that gaining God’s perspective and worldview is really at the core of what faith really is.
To quote Paul, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God”.
Sign up to my other blog to get updates as I, once again, take a Journey Through the Bible:
I was reading the story of David and Saul to Ellie last night and was struck by Sauls response to David after he spared his life:
“You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil. Yes, you have been amazingly kind to me today, for when the Lord put me in a place where you could have killed me, you didn’t do it. Who else would let his enemy get away when he had him in his power? May the Lord reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today. And now I realize that you are surely going to be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will flourish under your rule. Now swear to me by the Lord that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!” (1 Samuel 24:17-21 NLT)
“So what do we do when someone is mean to us and treats us badly?” I asked Ellie. “We treat them with kindness and we love them and maybe even bring them a gift”, I told her.
This reminded me of watching Anne of Green Gables awhile ago with my wife. I was so impressed with Annes zest for life and just how truly full of life she was. One scene that stuck with me was the transformation of one of Annes enemies. She was a jealous and bitter woman that worked with Anne at her first teaching job and made her life so difficult. At every opportunity Anne just responded with kindness and love and finally won her over earning her trust. She in turn became one of Annes dearest friends and “came to life” herself. It was beautiful.
I shared all this at my concert today and asked the group, “Wouldn’t it be awesome to see this played out in real life? In our own lives? Are there people in our lives who are mistreating us that we can respond with kindness, show love, or even give a gift?
How about you? Is there someone like that in your life? I know there is in mine.
I can’t wait to see what God will do and what former enemies will become dearest friends as we do as Jesus taught us:
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5 NLT)
Let me know what happens when you respond like David did, repaying evil for good. Come back and leave a comment!
I learned to truly forgive after I watched this video a few years ago.
It cannot be overstated how important (and beautiful) forgiveness is! Jesus himself guarantees you that God will forgive you if you are willing to forgive others! (and vice versa)
I know someone who doesn’t believe God will forgive them for something they have done. At first I was like, “of course God will forgive you!” But then I learned that this person was bitter against another and held unforgiveness in their heart. Sadly, I had to admit based on the very words of Jesus that God will not forgive them.
“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15 NLT
After watching the above video for the first time I made a video about some of the Scriptures on forgiveness and some personal stories. Here is that video:
Here is another story of Jesus on the subject in Matthew 18:
Matthew 18:21-35
New Living Translation (NLT)
Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor
21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone[a] who sins against me? Seven times?”
22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven![b]
23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.[c] 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.[d] He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters[e] from your heart.”
I feel that my “Alcohol and Jesus” blog post needed some further discussion and perhaps needed more balance. So I decided to reblog Rodney Hunts post “What does the Bible teach about alcohol?” because I found his blog to be thoughtful and centered on the real issue – the bigger picture – as a believer in Jesus. It is not about whether we are free to drink alcohol and all the discussion about “how much is too much” etc… but rather to ask ourselves, “how can we love others and respect where people are at? How can we respect their conscience and not offend them if we choose to drink responsibly to the glory of God or choose to never to drink again to the glory of God?
As with every freedom and gift God gives, it requires responsibility and discretion from us. Responsibility not to abuse the gift or exalt the gift above the giver. Discretion not to offend the “weaker brother” (as the Scriptures put it) who still views alcohol only as something dark and sinful.
Lastly, I wanted to share this response to my blog which I thought was pretty amazing and centered me back onto the big picture:
“For me Daniel, this life we live with Christ is not about liberty, I’m a slave in chains to the Gospel of Christ. It’s not about liberty for me, it’s about love. Paul spoke very eloquently about the effects/affects of abusing our liberty. I’m not going to be religious by quoting Scripture and writing things everyone already knows and essentially rejects because they want to prove their liberty. I’m so in love with my God and His Christ, who is also my Lord/Savior, that I don’t want anything or anyone to come in between us. And, I also don’t want to approach the day of Christ stumbling or causing others to stumble because of my own determination to exert liberty this side of heaven. The liberty I want to prove here on earth, won’t matter one iota when I get to heaven. The whole world is looking for something or someone who is true, Jesus Christ was true, and we don’t seem to get it that as long as we live just like the world trying to balance on the tight rope of liberty, the world rejects us as not true. I’ve lived most of what you shared, broken home, broken relationships, substance abuse, sexual promiscuity, the whole nine, but I tell you this today, it was the love of God that changed everything for me and I am now magnificently obsessed with Him. And, I wouldn’t want to be a slave to anything or anyone else, including liberty. These are just my thoughts my heart no condemnation on anyone else, my choice in this life. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on how the Holy Spirit dealt with you about alcohol. He is the greatest individual teacher and I thank God for giving us such a help. He knew how much we would need Him.”
I decided to read through the Bible before Christmas. Yesterday marks the first day of a 90 day read. Will you join me?
