St. John Studies

Fasting…

I am not well-acquainted with this topic but in W. Bingham Hunter’s chapter on “Persisting” he covers the subject of fasting.

Today, we hear of people fasting for various reasons, weight loss, cleansing of toxins from the body and yes some Christians do practice fasting.

Why?

John Piper* defines fasting as “a temporary renunciation of something that is in itself good, like food, in order to intensify our expression of need for something greater; namely, God and His work in our lives.”

Hunter says that “fasting helps many to think more clearly (because the head does not have to compete with the digestive organs for blood), and it can give anybody additional time in which to pray.”

Hunter is quick to say that a faster does not get “piety points” for the activity, nor does a hunger-strike pressure God to answer prayer.   The problem that many of us have in life is that we begin to take the gifts of life for granted. We forget that all we have in life is a gift from God. Abstinence is like an extended vacation [if you will]. When you leave your home and work for a period of time, you can look at your life in your normal environment and you can be more objective about it. You long to return home and participate in the things that make your life meaningful.

When one fasts, attention is given to God as one pulls away from the enjoyment of our blessings. God is seen as the foremost source of that joy.

Piper states “fasting is not explicitly commanded in the Bible for Christians. Fasting doesn’t have the same place in Christianity that it does, for example, in Islam. The fasting that Muslims do during the month of Ramadan in Islam is a requirement of every real Muslim. You can’t really claim to be a Muslim if you say, ‘I am just not going to do Ramadan.’ Fasting doesn’t have that kind of place in Christianity. But even though there is no command to fast in the New Testament, nevertheless there are indications that it was normal and that Jesus expected it would happen among his followers.”

In Matthew 6:16–18, Jesus says, “When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

In looking at this Scripture, it states when you fast. Note that it does not say if you fast.   The implication is that Jesus is expecting fasting to occur. Also note that He says do not disfigure your face so others will see you are fasting.   He expects the fasting to be known by God and not the public.   Pharisees may want others to see their dedication but Jesus does not want His followers to fall into that hypocritical trap. The Father will see you in secret and reward you.   He implies that fasting can strengthen a person’s connection with God.

Fasting is a Christian’s way of exhibiting faith in our Lord. Piper describes it as “a Christian handmaid of faith. Fasting is not a replacement for faith in Jesus. It is a servant of faith in Jesus.” A Christian who sincerely needs and wants the Lord may fast to show how much he hungers for our Lord. The fasting Christian is saying with his or her stomach that the hunger for God is more important than food.   The person who fasts is saying that Jesus is more important than food.

One need only to look at our society today to see that many struggle with too much nutrition. Food like so many other aspects of life is a gift from God. Many love the gift so much that we overindulge and lose sight of what food is—a means to fuel the body.   Eating is not a bad activity; falling in love with food can lead to problems.   The opposite can be a problem too.   Fasting becomes a problem when we think we have the discipline or willpower to do it and we forget that God is our source of power, not our prideful willpower.

Feasting is not a problem because our food is a gift from God. Fasting is not a problem if we have the right attitude. “ It is simply a heartfelt, body felt exclamation point at the end of the sentence: I love you, God. I need you more than I need food, more than I need life” [Piper].

*from John Piper the “Desiring God” website

Persistence: “firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.”

If readers would excuse me, I would like to make a cultural judgement. Persistence is not a very popular activity today. We live in a microwave world, with instant credit, instant replay and instant coffee. We all have cellphones with instant answers to our questions.   Log on to your browser, type in a question and you will get an answer.   I was recently at a friend’s house and he had just purchased a new instant answer toy, an Alexa. Just ask Alexa a question and she will give you an answer. This “intelligent personal assistant” is voice activated and when you ask “her” a question, she talks back.

This is all well and good, but what happens when we don’t get an instant answer?

What does God expect of us when we pray and we don’t get an answer?

He expects us to persist in our prayer…

That unpopular word…

Bingham Hunter cites two reasons why persisting in prayer is not popular today. One reason is “there isn’t time to do it.”   One of the most popular expressions we hear today is “moving on.”   We are always moving on or “putting something in the rearview mirror.” It is not desirable to stay in a particular condition for very long.   We want to change; the sooner the better.

This sounds bad, but who today can wait for God to get around to responding to a prayer?   To trust God to answer a prayer that is repeated over a long period of time, most of us will have to change our orientation to life.   Persistent prayer necessitates that we slow down. Repetition of prayer is called for. Patience is needed. Faith that God will act in His time is necessary.

This is a big change for most of us. We love those instant answers.

Secondly, persisting can lead to misunderstanding. Hunter says “persistence [is] … not a method we adopt to convince a reluctant God that we are serious.”   The discipline that it takes to persist in prayer can be for our benefit, even though impatient Christians may struggle with praying the same prayer over and over. Yes, learning self-discipline can be a good thing. We can use the time of waiting to examine our motives and that is always good if we do an honest examination. Stopping and thinking about why we do what we do can be very fruitful and can result in mid-course corrections that are very helpful. We can also seek the counsel of other Christians as we wait for an answer.   That can grow our faith. If we persist in prayer, we can affirm our complete dependency on God for all aspects of our life. This humbling is good for us and can lead to an increase of faith.

Hunter cites the Canaanite woman who cries out to Jesus in Matthew “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! … Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”   Jesus declared that this woman had great faith and He granted her request. Peter says “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s almighty hand, the He may lift you up in due time.   Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” [1 Peter, 5:5-7].

To be humble in today’s world is difficult. So many people love to brag and “trash talk” as they espouse the power they have to take powerful action alone.   They don’t need God.

Truth be told, we all need God to get things done.   We all depend on Him like the Canaanite woman.

Study the words of Jesus in Matthew 7: 7-8: He says that we should keep on asking because God exists. He says that we should keep on seeking because God is all powerful and sovereign.   He says that we should keep on knocking because God is wise and good and will give us what we need.

He will give us what we need, when He feels we need it.

So persist…

It is not a waste of time.

I try to post every other day, but due to travel, I am getting this post written late.   My apologies…

“One of the profound tragedies of modern Christianity is that so many believers know almost nothing about the saints of God in other denominations and communions or in ages other than their own.”

Why should we concern ourselves with how other people pray? What can the faithful of other generations and other denominations teach us? W. Bingham Hunter states that it is “arrogant” to think that the Holy Spirit can teach us nothing through the counsel and experience of others, especially others who are considered the church’s “heroes of faith” [Hunter, 163].

Hunter names thirty-four heroes but chooses to focus on one: George Muller. What makes Muller so special? Muller was a 19^th Century Evangelist and Director of the Ashley Down Orphanage where he cared for 10,024 orphans in his lifetime.   He also established 117 schools which offered Christian education to over 120,000 children, many of them being orphans.

The commitment to caring for orphans began in 1836 with the use of his own rented home. Muller and his wife configured their home to care for thirty girls. Soon after they started, growth began with more homes opening to accommodate more children.

Through all the growth, “Müller never made requests for financial support, nor did he go into debt, even though the five homes cost over £100,000 to build. Many times, he received unsolicited food donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith in God. For example, on one well-documented occasion, they prayed for breakfast when all the children were sitting at the table, even though there was nothing to eat in the house. As they finished praying, the baker knocked on the door with sufficient fresh bread to feed everyone, and the milkman gave them plenty of fresh milk because his cart broke down in front of the orphanage.”*

He never asked any person (only God) for anything. Muller regarded his life as a demonstration of what God might do through the prayers of the ordinary Christian. Muller regarded faith as a gift from God rather than something he could generate on his own. Time after time, Muller found himself asking God for help and thinking that help would arrive in accordance with His will.

This is in line with 1 John 5 and the words “This is the assurance we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him” [verses 14-15].

Muller did not give thanks in advance for prayers not yet granted. Hunter believes that thanking God in advance is akin to psychological leverage which demands that God deliver. Muller had a habit of saying after prayer “God will surely send help.” That was all.

How many Christians today would have such great faith? How many Christians today would put themselves and others at risk? Hunter says “how often are we unwilling to follow God’s will into situations which are neither safe, comfortable, familiar, regulated, scheduled nor routine?”

What you lose if you turn down these opportunities is you lose your chance to increase your faith.   When the Holy Spirit calls out that this is what you should do, do it; it may be risky business but it is business that is worth doing. Dire conditions like poverty, persecution, suffering and imprisonment seem to accelerate the growth of faith because we are so dependent on God to get us out of those circumstances but we need to realize that God also acts in the comfort of our everyday lives. Taking a risk in those ordinary times is needed because growing our faith takes time and the time that God uses the most is the ordinary times of every day.

“Müller’s faith in God strengthened day by day and he spent hours in daily prayer and Bible reading. Indeed, it was his practice in later years, to read through the entire Bible four times a year….After his life, his work was continued by The George Müller Foundation, which was renamed The George Müller Charitable Trust on 1 March 2009. The Trust maintains the key principle of seeking money through prayer alone – it actively shuns fund-raising activities.”*

He prayed, he knew his Bible and God worked through him—his prayers and his actions.

*Wikipedia “George Muller”

Do we have enough faith in our faith?

That sounds like a strange question but it not so strange when the result of our prayer is a no from God.

When the answer is no, we start asking “what is the problem?”

God “powers the system” but our faith is important because our faith permits God to work, or so we think.

Faith insecurity comes into play. Did I say the right words? Did my friends who prayed with me have enough faith? Should I have fasted? Should I have claimed a different promise? Inevitably we begin to think about ourselves when the result of prayer is a no.   We may even wonder why a friend gets positive results and we get negative results. What are they doing that is right? What are we doing that is wrong?   Things can even get worse.   We can begin to doubt that God really loves us, His justice is not as perfect as we thought it was and maybe God is not as good as we once believed.

We need to stop all this second guessing and realize that God is God.   We don’t have to have all the self- doubt. I believe that God accepts the Christian where the Christian is and granted, some brothers and sisters seem further along in their walk with God than others. Life will always be that way. No matter what you believe and how strongly you believe it, there will always be others who seem to have more solid belief than you have.   It is so easy to fall into the trap of comparison. That is a fruitless thing to do.

Let’s think about some other possibilities.

The answer is no because God loves you. That sounds counter-intuitive but could it be correct? I always have unanswered prayers. Right now some of mine are very particular. Instead of doubting my faith, maybe God has told me no because He has faith in me. Maybe He thinks I don’t have to have a positive response; my faith can withstand the lack of positive reinforcement.

Another possibility is God knows that each of His children has different needs. Everyone is unique; different genes, different experiences and different abilities. He treats us differently because each of us is different.

Another explanation may be that since God has said no, we can turn to others for encouragement and support. What does this do? It reinforces the idea that we need to be loved by one another.   That is a basic message from God the Father, a message He wants us to understand.

Lastly, we know that a positive answer would allow us to glorify God. We would take that positive response and sing His praises.   But maybe God wants us to grow more in our relationship with Him before the answer is positive.   That is a good thing.   Maybe we need to learn from more mature believers, tap into our Holy Spirit, learn to pray with more urgency, read His Holy Word etc.   In short, we need to expand our relationship, not doubt it.

Seen from these four perspectives, unanswered prayer is not evidence that we lack faith necessarily. We just don’t see things the way our Holy Father does.

Too often we get so upset about getting the negative response. We want our way…

Instead of doubting that we have enough faith, it may be better to just say this to God: “Lord I have the faith to get what I need: I need it.” Faith in God says “Lord, give me faith to accept what you want: I need you.”*

*from W. Bingham Hunter The God Who Hears [162-63].

Well, I have my needs. [Don’t we all?] I think I am going to take them to God in prayer. I make my supplications and sit back and relax.   I know God is going to take care of my concerns…

Wouldn’t it be nice if it was this simple?

The only requirement for a positive response is to believe in God…

Christians are often confused about the role of their faith in their prayers.

Many take literally the verses in Matthew 7: 9-11 that say “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”

Does it really work like that? What many of us fail to remember is that no matter what happens in our lives, we are not in control; God is.

One needs to look at what W. Bingham Hunter calls the key characteristics of God to understand how prayers of the faithful are answered.

First, there is God’s omnipotence. He has the ability to deliver whatever we ask. After all, He created the world. In Jeremiah’s prayers he says “Ah Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens, and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”   We need to believe that God can do anything but that does not mean that He will. The faithful person may think that God gives them what Hunter calls a “blank check.”   They just fill in the request and expect to be able to cash it; Mark 9:23 “everything is possible for him who believes.”

The truly faithful person knows that God can deliver but he delivers according to what He has revealed about Himself and His promises in Scripture.   Hunter uses the Old Testament example of Abraham and Sarah.  God promised them that they would have a child.   They could believe in that but God did not tell them how or when the child would be born.   What should they have believed?   They should have believed that God would act…and He did in His way and in His own time.

Secondly, the faithful person can know that God is wholly good, gracious and compassionate. You may ask why is this so important? If we know that God can and will act, we have to believe that He will act in our own best interest.   Here is where many Christians fail to “let go and let God”.   They think they know what they want because they think they know what they need.   In reality, God knows what you need better than you do. Hunter says it best: “faith trusts in God rather than insisting on its own way”.   We need to ask but then we need to let God decide how our prayers are to be answered.   Will we get something that we did not ask for? Maybe. Will we get no answer at all? Maybe.

As Christians we want to discern the will of God. Wouldn’t that be nice? We could tap into the mind of God and know how our prayers are going to turn out. We don’t have to do that.   All we have to do is have faith: faith that God can act and faith that He will act in a gracious and compassionate manner.

Hunter uses the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the blazing furnace as a wonderful example. Of course the men wanted to be saved from the furnace so they had specific concerns but their faith was in God rather than their ability to discern His will.   By believing in an omnipotent God that had their best interests at heart, they acknowledged the divide between creatures and Creator. By trusting in God Himself, they understood that famous part of the Lord ’s Prayer that goes like this: “thy will be done.”

In our prayers the most important phrase we should say to God would be “if it be Thy will.”

Banking on faith…

Let’s be realistic about how many of us think about our faith in God. W. Bingham Hunter* states that “growing numbers of Christians have been led to believe that faith is something they must generate themselves (almost out of nothing) if God is to respond to their prayers” [Hunter, 155].

You might ask, what is the problem with this conceptualization?

It makes faith a commodity that we must exchange for answers to prayer.   If you have enough faith, your prayers are answered.   If you lack faith, you are probably not going to get an answer. You may think that Hunter gets a little cynical as he comments that maybe fasting can add to your faith exchange rate. Maybe you can get two or three others to pray for you and that will add more value to the mix. If you are still not getting an answer, you need to consider enlisting the prayer of a righteous intercessor.   That type of Christian has more faith than they need themselves and maybe their loan of faith can put you over the top.

Seriously though, what are the real negatives of thinking of faith as a commodity that must be offered up for answered prayer? One thing is our dangerous obsession in this culture with measuring ourselves by observing others around us.   Why is God choosing to bless my neighbor’s finances and He is refusing to bless me or I deserve a healing; I am a person of great faith.   My friend is getting healed and I am not. Comparing ourselves to others is bad enough but the second negative could be the worst. It is pure disillusionment with God. When we think we are offering God our best faith we get upset when we are not getting what we want out of Him.   We literally begin to lose faith that we even have a valid relationship with Him.

What is a scriptural reference that speaks to how we are to approach God with our faith? Hebrews 11:6 says “Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”

This scripture does say that belief in God’s existence is an essential for approaching God. Why would we pray to God if we did not believe that He exists? Many of you may be thinking that is just too simple but in our world today, we often think we are constantly in a cocoon of safety. We can control life so well that we don’t need God on a daily basis. Maybe we have a habit of thinking we don’t need to depend on God for much. For some, the only time we get serious about God is when life is interrupted by some illness, accident or bankruptcy.

The second thing we can draw from Hebrews is that we must believe in God’s moral character. He is just in how He rewards those who seek Him. Hunter actually uses the metaphor of a hang glider to explain how important it is to know God’s character. “Your belief that you can work a hang glider is not as important as the quality of the glider. We may be able to believe that God exists, but the important thing is who God is” [Hunter, 156].

Hunter points to three sources of God knowledge: His creation, His creatures and His self-revelation in scripture.   Some can believe in God by looking at the order of nature, the design of nature and the beauty of nature. Others believe in God by human nature and human testimony about the existence of God. Hunter admits the most certain source of information about God is revealed in His written Word, the Bible.

In future posts, we will elaborate on how we can get to know God better but I will warn you that increasing your knowledge of God takes time.   Hunter says it best: “Faith, the ability to trust God is like a plant. It takes time to grow and requires consistent exposure to the light of God’s Word.”

People who like quick results will be disappointed.

I don’t believe that an exchange of our faith is what is needed for effective prayer. Knowledge of God is what is needed. Knowledge is the key element because we can begin to understand who God is.

Returning to the banking theme: getting a quick increase in our knowledge of God may be very desirable, but slow, steady, regular investment of time is the way to know God.   Trying to develop knowledge of God without reading His Word will just lead to frustration.   There is very little return on very little investment.

Author of The God Who Hears

How do you define faith?

As Christians, we purport that we have it, but what is it that we have?

In Christian circles, I have always heard faith referred to in a subjective way. It is a personal relationship we have with God. Often faith is treated like a private experience, “just between me and my Lord.” This secret relationship is ok but it leads to many Christians feeling like it matters less what they believe; they are just proud that they believe anything.

But this subjective approach makes it hard for the Christian to define faith…

The personal relationship with God does make sense in one aspect. We are all unique human beings and therefore God does mean something different for each one of us. No one’s perception is quite like another’s.

However, Jesus claimed it does matter whom and what you believe. In James, we see Jesus declaring that “no one comes to the Father except through Me” [14:6]. Peter’s words are similar: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” [Acts 4:12].   Jesus told Thomas to “reach here with your finger” showing him objective proof of His resurrection.

Faith is still a matter of irrationality for many Christians. Hebrews 11:1 states that faith is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Since many people never see their hopes come to fruition, clinging to faith seems like clinging to an impossible dream.

We don’t have the privilege of seeing Jesus perform miracles like the Disciples did and yet even they had their weak moments. Matthew 8:26 has Jesus calling His disciples “you of little faith.”   They had seen the miracles and those facts formed the backbone of their faith.

Yet at times even this was not enough for them.

So here we are again; what is faith?  Bingham Hunter* defines faith as a “rational response to the evidence of God’s self-revelation in nature, human history, the Scriptures and His resurrected Son” [Hunter, 153].

But here is where we fall short on faith: “total personal commitment, the willingness to entrust the whole of one’s being to God without reservation” [Hunter, 153]. Even though it is hard to think about, it is in the moment of death where we can commend ourselves totally to our Lord and Savior. Jesus commended Himself to God when His moment of death occurred on the cross.   The martyr Stephen commended himself to God when he met his death at his stoning: “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.”   At those moments a believer puts trust in God himself, His character, His ability and the truth of His promises.

What is faith? It is the moment where we have to turn to God and God alone.   Having faith in our faith will not be enough.   Hunter goes so far as to say that having faith in our faith is a “fatal mistake.” Jesus and Stephen faced death certain that their hope for resurrection was well placed in God.

As Christians, we often define faith as something we need to exercise, but faith is a gift which God gives us because we cannot exercise it on our own. We are blinded by Satan but God justifies us by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Salvation is received by our personal faith in God, but even faith is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8 “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

So how do we define faith?  It is an intersection between a sovereign God and man.   God offers the gift of faith to us.

We have to make a personal decision to accept it.

*author of The God Who Hears

Conflict and disagreement are a part of life. I must admit however that I am not comfortable in conflict situations. I prefer peace to the tense environment of conflict. However, we all know that God made so many varieties of human beings that it is impossible that we will avoid differences of opinion. Sometimes difference of opinion escalates to the point that disagreement can occur and conflict and words and actions that are offensive can result.

What must we do when this occurs?

As Christians we need to step back from conflict and seek and give forgiveness. Bingham Hunter* states “Hostility and an unforgiving spirit are acids which destroy our capacity to worship and pray. When sin and discord exist between Christians, God is troubled…hostility between believers hinders acceptable praise and worship” [Hunter, 147].

It is pretty obvious what Jesus feels on this subject. In the Sermon on the Mount, He relates that if you are offering a gift at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift on the front of the altar. First go and reconcile to your brother and then offer your gift.

Obviously interpersonal reconciliation is more important than worship; worship offered before reconciliation is unacceptable to God.   In Ephesians 4: 30-31, it says “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

We need to know that God expects us to be kind and compassionate toward one another, forgiving each other, just as God has forgiven each of us. Bingham Hunter’s book is all about prayer and it takes a long, in-depth look at something that some Christians take for granted, others struggle with and still others neglect prayer except for rote prayer that we learn in going to church.   As we leave chapter 11 on prayers for forgiveness, it is important to note that an unforgiving heart will kill prayer. We need to learn to forgive.

If we obey God’s admonitions to forgive we can begin to know the mind of God, we can even begin to pray according to His will. If we do not obey God and forgive, we grow distant from God.   We have trouble knowing His will and praying according to it.

Sometimes as I have read and commented on this book on prayer, I realize that I have fallen short on many of the topics of concern. I am not one who engages in enough thankful prayer; I have been chastened and I don’t know how to pray the prayer of the chastened disciple. My intercessory prayer is sometimes weak and half-hearted and yes I have harbored hurt in the past. I have to admit however, as I have gotten older I don’t have negative feelings toward others much anymore. I do remember holding grudges and negative feelings for others over long periods of time in my younger days.   Maybe I have grown to accept that differences will occur and I try harder to understand other peoples’ positions.

When it comes to falling short, Hunter’s closing words of chapter 11 are worth quoting. “Thankfully, our God is a loving and forgiving Father—even when His children are neither. I’ve said what I’ve said …to motivate you to love and to encourage and to forgive. My purpose is not to crush or accuse. God hears the prayer of those who struggle to do His will. If you have been unloving or know you should seek reconciliation or grant forgiveness, ask Him for the Spirit’s help, and by faith try to be obedient to His word. It is not easy. But the freedom and liberty which comes in worship and prayer when we get rid of such clutter in our spiritual lives is definitely worth the cost” [149].

Author of The God Who Hears

In a recent conversation I had with two Christian friends, they recounted several experiences when they were wronged, they forgave the offender and offered help and they were wronged again. This grated on their nerves and they stated “we felt like we were used.”

Can the focus on forgiveness that we see in the Christian faith set us up as “easy marks” for unscrupulous individuals? W. Bingham Hunter* says it like this: “Being a forgiver is one thing. But being a whipping post is another.”

There is guidance in God’s Word on this matter. Peter asked Jesus how many times should he forgive his brother when his brother sins against him. He says “Up to seven times?” Seven is a special number for Judaism, a number that signifies completeness.   Really Peter is saying seven times is the limit and I suspect that I am being generous. Jesus surprises Peter by saying “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

What is Jesus really saying about the limits of forgiveness? Maybe He is telling Peter that placing a limit on forgiveness may not feel so wonderful if you are the person needing it. Maybe He is saying to Peter would you only need seven instances of forgiveness? Would you possibly need more? Also, maybe Jesus is saying with the large number [seventy times seven] that we should not even keep track of the number of times we forgive. We should just do it.

So the Bible says we are just to accept whatever is done to us. Not really. There is nothing wrong in telling another “you have sinned against me.”   This is rebuking a sinner and in Matthew 18:15 it says “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.” The idea is that rebuking another is ok but the rebuke should be done in love and it should be about creating peace between you and your transgressor. You should want your brother and sister restored to fellowship with you , the church and God.

The goal should not be to create anger, the goal should not be to prove yourself right and prove that they are wrong. Many find rebuking another so hard because they don’t have the right goal in mind. That right goal is discipline, aimed at restoration.

The offender may still not accept forgiveness and change. The offender may still not listen to a rebuke and change.

What are we to do?

Jesus says that we are still to love that person. We are not to repay evil with evil, nor should we seek revenge. Paul says in Romans 12:20-21 “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”

This is hard advice because we may be very impatient with a person who continually causes us physical or emotional harm. It can cause us to feel “like we are being used” as we are called on to forgive over and over again.  Many cannot follow the teaching of the Bible due to personal outrage and anger.   Pride can also get in the way as many of us feel that we deserve better treatment. In some instances, Christians don’t have the love in their hearts to deal with people who are offensive. Some people don’t have the words to use in these situations or the empathy necessary to understand other points of view.Bingham Hunter says the reason to follow God’s Word on forgiveness is trifold: we want sinners to be brought to their senses and we want reconciliation, we want to protect the purity of others in the church and finally, we want to show an effective witness to the nonbeliever. We want them to see Jesus in our actions.

Yes when people do us wrong, it is hard to forgive, but the Bible is clear about the need to do it.

It is best to think seriously about the title of Hunter’s chapter on prayer and forgiveness. It is “Forgiving: The Prayer for Other Sinners.”

I want to be able to forgive and I am certainly a sinner.

*author of The God who Hears

We have all been there. Someone has let you down. Someone has hurt you. Someone has done something to you that is very offensive, maybe even criminal.

And you are called on to forgive them.

Who “calls” on you to forgive these people?

God…

The Old Testament has many examples of forgiveness: God’s self-description to Moses [Exodus 34:6-7], the psalmist proclaiming “With you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared” [130:4]. Isaiah talks about remembering sins no more in 43:25 and Daniel prayed “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against Him” [9:9]. The Jewish people knew the meaning of the phrase “To err is human; but to forgive, divine.”

Jesus is “the embodiment” of God’s forgiveness. God sent His Son to earth to serve as a ransom for sinners. The Christian Gospel is essentially a message of forgiveness. The Apostles preached repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name. Peter’s message in Acts 10:43 is “Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”

As Christians we are recipients of forgiveness but Christ asks us to forgive others. The message could not be any more clear than the words Paul wrote: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” [Collosians 3:13].

What should be our motivation to forgive others? We are grateful.

What are we showing the world when we forgive others? We are showing mercy.

What are we saying about ourselves when we forgive others? We are showing others that we are aware of our own shortcomings.

None of us is perfect. We all sin. We are all in need of forgiveness.

That still does not make it easy.   If the offense that is brought against you is very hurtful, it is hard to forgive. I think about the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The church has been in the news lately as the young man who killed nine African-American members [including the pastor] has recently been sentenced for the crime. Several members of the church confronted the young man in jail to tell him they forgave him of the offense.

Some cannot do that.   They hold their forgiveness back, maybe as a sign that they are hurting, maybe as a feeling of power they hold over the offender. Forgiving acknowledges that we are powerless over the situation.   We could not have stopped it from happening.   Forgiving does do one thing that is so good for the offended; it releases the rancor and it becomes a gift that you give yourself.Bingham Hunter even goes so far as to say that “our willingness to forgive others is thus a sign of our genuine conversion” [Hunter, 143].*

Think about what Jesus said about the man who owed a lot of money to his master. Instead of appreciating his gift and extending mercy to others, he goes to a slave and demands money owed him in a much smaller debt and throws the man in prison because he cannot make payment.   In Matthew 18: 32-34, the master calls the servant in and says “You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” He got so angry that he turned the servant over to the jailers until he paid back his debt in full.   Jesus says that this is how the Heavenly Father will treat each of us, unless we learn to forgive our brothers.

Jesus assumes that the forgiven sinner forgive others.

One of his most famous statements in the New Testament says it all: “Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you….for with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” [Luke 6: 37-38].

Words to live by, words to heed, words that impel us to forgive…

*from his chapter “Forgiving: The Prayer for Other Sinnners”