What ever happened to Forgiveness

As always on a Tuesday Night if I decide to go to TNL I am always fed and challenged and I get thinking. And when that happens their is no stopping me. So let me begin with how God has been preparing me and you Christian people that read this hopefully you can see what God is doing or I'll try to explain at the end what I think He is doing.

1st it all began last night after I had, really thinking about it, a really good day. But as I realized tonight it is never going to be the same in regards to seeing my friends almost every day and it is literally a whole moving to the next level of my life. I had to say goodbye to Dusty, who I consider probably my best friend. We have been through a lot together and experienced some good life. It is hard. So as I sat in solitude last night listening to what God has for me the next month I began crying, I'll admit it I cry occasionally, not because I'm sad more because I realize I am so undeserving of the grace shown to me. And as I sat there listening, and for those of you aren't Christian's silence is one of the few ways God will actually speak to you. So if you are a Christian and don't practice being silent in front of God, start doing it it will help you know what God is doing in your life as well as the world. It says in the psalms be still and know that I am God. That is a command not a suggestion. Be still people, be silent.

Anyways after I had talked and listened to God a peace came over me. About this whole week and about that I have done what I can with this people personally and this month is about getting me prepared for what lies ahead, so let me tell you it is going to be a hard month. But I know that God is with me every part of it. So continuing with my day I woke up this morning and sat in stillness once again for two hours till the phone rang with Jonathan on the other end asking about his Mac of course and then I began my day. But I realized for once as I stated last night that silence is key to being at peace with the craziness that is this world. But anyways I went to the dentist with my sister and five hundred dollars and fifteen minutes later I had read some Tozer and saw what was happening in my life and the areas that God is beginning to let me know that need changing in this month but that was only the beginning. See I got into this long conversation about homosexuality with Christine and we mainly agreed that people who have same sex attraction are honestly really good people. That they don't deserve to be called names or be treated any differently. And then God smacks me in the face for a thing I did about a year ago. I along with some friends called this one guy in a movie who was struggling to find out who he was sexually an idiot because we all new he was straight. But the smack came when tonight's section was about love and forgiveness and how if we were a Christian community that exhibited those traits nothing would keep people away and me being a person that helps in not showing love sometimes was helping this to not happen within the church.

See we as humans live in a world in an endless cycle of blame and pain as Dave says. Where people are constantly blaming other people which causes pain and then vice versa in an endless cycle. But if we as Christians could show people love unconditionally as our father has shown us we would be unstoppable because people want to be forgiven and ultimately loved. But not many people have that down, but that is what the church is supposed to do. But I learned tonight that I had been showing love to most people because that is who I am but it is my responsibility because Christ died for me to do two things. One show love to God and show love to other people, all people. Anything not those two things is sin which I should not be doing as a Christian. See I think subconsciously I had always viewed sin as a list of don'ts and where the line gets fuzzy I really had no clue. See I didn't know about homosexuality if people were born gay or not I've researched it and their are people who have come out of it with Christ's help and strength and they have laid it aside as Paul talks about doing with any type of sin but it still knocks on their door occasionally and then there are Christians who can't find their way out of it. But see is it really sin on their end. I know it is only when it goes into sex and lustful thoughts just like any heterosexual male. Once it gets to that it is sin because we were made to have pure relationships with another and since the fall none of us can really grasp love in true form because we have never known it and as we get further and further away from the dawn of creation those relationships get worse and worse. And this is the time when us Christians need to stop worrying about what is right and wrong and begin to define the grey area of morality with the questions 1. Are we showing love to God and 2. Are we showing love to others. Not by interpreting the bible as we want too or would like to. Because although we may not struggle with such things we sin and do not show God love too when we don't show a person with same sex tendencies love and caring about them. God loves everyone the same and counts all sin the same. He just wants to show his love to people, all of them no matter who they are what they have done, or what place they are in. God loves all of you and me so much and I hope you and I can learn to grasp that. And because he loves you and I so much we can hopefully learn to forgive and love other people more then ourselves. Check out Mark 12:28-34. The words of Jesus explain things far better then I ever could.
JG