FORGIVEN to LOVE

INVOCATION....  d365.org (Sara Hunt)
Love itself may be at stake. If we are unable to forgive one another, we will not be able to love.

Perhaps this is why we can declare with confidence that God is love; it is because, first, God is forgiving.

With so much at risk, God will see to it that love does not leave room for resentment. Instead, God will lead in the cause of mercy.

SATURDAY, June 22 "Lucky I Am!"
Psalm 32:1-2  (The Message)

Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
    you get a fresh start,
    your slate’s wiped clean.

 Count yourself lucky—
    God holds nothing against you
    and you’re holding nothing back from him.

Lucky I am! My heart feels free! 
Happy I am!  God's forgiven me!
Blessed I am for a lightened load,
Debts forgiven, no longer owed. 

God does not tally up our sin,
If we practice not to hold within;
And pass it on to all around,
So forgiveness-love the world abound. 

Lucky I am! My slate's wiped clean
The past now lit with God-like sheen!
Rejoice with joy, kick up my heels!
Resurrection power, grace reveals. 


I HAVE THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THIS WEEK'S THEME OF FORGIVENESS!!  

BENEDICTION.....  d365.org    (Sara Hunt)

There's a gate just ahead, inviting you to pass through. It is marked "Forgiveness." It leads the way to acceptance, confirmation, recognition, being embraced and held. It takes you down the pathway that brings you love.

Reach out and open easily the latch. Step lightly through the gate's portal. Our forgiving God welcomes you there.

FRIDAY, June 21 "Chain Reaction"
Luke 8:1,3  (Message)
He continued according to plan, traveled to town after town, village after village, preaching God’s kingdom, spreading the Message. The Twelve were with him. There were also some women in their company who had been healed ... who used their considerable means to provide for the company.

How can we 'provide for the company'?  What means do we hold to help spread the message of the gospel, a message of love and forgiveness?  Pure love for one another doesn't come naturally; we need help.  Forgiveness is not a natural response; it is God-granted grace.  We who have accepted and received the forgiveness of God carry the responsibility to 'pass it on'; to represent the power of forgiveness in our broken world.   Each time we forgive in love, we provide.  Each time we supply the daily needs of others, we provide.  Each time we use the our God-given gifts for the benefit of all, we provide. Within such a community of love, God's Kingdom grows, one link at a time in a chain reaction.  

Noted writer Henri Nouwen penned, "Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.” 

-----------------------

As I searched the internet for Nouwen's quote, I found others that provide food for thought....

"The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."  (Mahatma Gandhi)

"When you release the wrongdoer from the wrong, you cut a malignant tumor out of your inner life. You set a prisoner free, but you discover that the real prisoner was yourself." --(Lewis B. Smedes)

"The best way to get the last word is to apologize." (Unknown)

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future." (Paul Boese)

 "To be forgiven is such sweetness that honey is tasteless in comparison with it. But yet there is one thing sweeter still, and that is to forgive. As it is more blessed to give than to receive, so to forgive rises a stage higher in experience than to be forgiven." (Charles Spurgeon)

THURSDAY, June 20 "Gateway"
Luke 7:48-50 (The Message)

Then he spoke to her: “I forgive your sins.”   That set the dinner guests talking behind his back: “Who does he think he is, forgiving sins!”    He ignored them and said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

There is a fence between me and love,
A broken portal in the middle:
The gate of forgiveness.
The weight of resentment 
Hangs heavy and
Bitterness has rusted the hinge.  
To forgive as God forgives
Is to repair the gate. 
"I forgive you" polishes the broken hinge, 
"God forgives me" realigns the entrance
And the door swings open wide.
Accept God's forgiveness,
Reconcile and forgive others. 
Experience the peace, the new life,
The LOVE on the other side. 

WEDNESDAY, June 19  "Forgive and Forget?"

Luke 7:44-47 (Common English Bible)

Jesus turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your home, you didn’t give me water for my feet, but she wet my feet with tears and wiped them with her hair.   You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in.  You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has poured perfumed oil on my feet.   This is why I tell you that her many sins have been forgiven; so she has shown great love. The one who is forgiven little loves little.”

Forgive and forget!

A commonly used phrase,

Intended to encourage or remind. 

And it's ok to forget the wrongdoing,

To feel like the sin is wiped clean,

Or the slate erased. 

But forgiveness demands a response. 

You can't forget when you've been forgiven. 

You can't forget the gratitude. 

The call of God is to Forgive and Love. 

We must have a RESPONSE to forgiveness. 
We must demonstrate our thankfulness. 
We must return the love to the forgiver;
We must show love to the forgiven. 
It's easy to say, 'I forgive you'
Or to acknowledge God's 'You're forgiven!'
It's harder to wrap our arms around each other in love;
Much more difficult to sacrifice a piece of ourselves for another. 
But Forgiveness demands a response:
LOVE.

Proof that scribbling helps the scriptural memory.  As I worked through this morning's devotion, I thought 'I have drawn this passage before!  It was a 747 airplane!' Sure enough, in a review of Rev. Al's Sermons, I found the 747 airplane drawing from September 2010.  You can tell it was one of my earliest drawings! 

TUESDAY, June 18  "God-Bank"

Luke 7:41-43 (Good News Translation)

 “There were two men who owed money to a moneylender,” Jesus began. “One owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other owed him fifty.  Neither of them could pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Which one, then, will love him more?”

 “I suppose,” answered Simon, “that it would be the one who was forgiven more.”

“You are right,” said Jesus.

     God runs a most unusual bank.  The Almighty makes loans right and left - loans of great abundance, blessings overflowing, home loans of incredible creation. As world citizens, we are patrons of the God-Bank. We nonchalantly accept the loans on a daily basis,  yet none of us can repay.  The amount we owe is meaningless to Banker God - we come as equals unable to cash out. The debts are constantly canceled at the God-bank.  Wall Street economics this is not, but the God Theology of Debt Management. 

     Somehow, our egotistical nature leads us to believe that those who have smaller debts are of greater 'worth'.  Big debt means big 'screw-up' in our minds.  As usual, God leads us to realize the opposite:  Those with the greatest debt are those with the greatest capacity for gratitude and love. 

     I am going to continue to do business with the God-Bank.  

MONDAY, June 17 "Pursuit"

Luke 7:37-38 (The Message)

Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume.

To seek Forgiveness 
We must acknowledge the Sin. 
We must pursue the Forgiver.
Actively.
This takes persistence,
A willingness to enter strange doors,
A boldness of emotion,
A public declaration of wrong.
The Lord is ready and waiting,
With open arms and a forgiving heart.
Poised to cleanse our souls and
Prepare the way for love. 
May we continually engage the pursuit.
May we daily seek the one who forgives.
Unashamed yet with humility.
And throw wide open the gate to love. 

SUNDAY, June 16 "Each Morning" 

Psalm 5:1-3, 8  (Common English Bible)

Hear my words, Lord!
    Consider my groans!
2     Pay attention to the sound of my cries, my king and my God,
        because I am praying to you!
3 Lord, in the morning you hear my voice.
    In the morning I lay it all out before you.
    Then I wait expectantly.....

Lord, because of many enemies,
    please lead me in your righteousness.
    Make your way clear,
        right in front of me.

It's a tough world in which to forgive, Lord. 

People wrong each other. 

People wrong me. 

Yet your call is for love. 

Vengeance gets in the way of love. 

Anger and resentment bar the door. 

Forgiveness opens the way. 

Each morning may I renew my resolve

To clear the path for love. 

Each morning may I come to you

For the strength to do so. 

Show me the door, Lord. 

Whisper in my ear, 'Forgive them'.

Lead me to Love.