Monday, February 26, 2007, 06:12 PM
Tough Love
Everything seems so hopeless. There doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel. But Lord there is a light and if we would only open our eyes to you and not keep them closed we could see you. When our eyes are closed all we see is the darkness all around and there is no hope because then our minds have only the view of the world and all of it’s evil. Our thoughts dwell on the evilness of man and our sins and the heartache of this world. Depression, loneliness and lost hope are our companion. Every part of our being feels as if it never wants to move. We lie there in listlessness. Our hearts cry out for relief and release but our thoughts will not let lose of our destructive attitude and our hurting emotions. We hate it but we cannot get free of it. Satan uses suffering to defeat us trying to get us to turn our backs on God.
Then it lifts. What a relief. Our eyes see Jesus again. The darkness is gone. There can only be light and relief with Jesus. There can only be a kind of joy that we do not understand even in a helpless situation.
God allows suffering to get our attention. He wants us to see His glory. We have all heard the saying and even practiced it ‘Tough love’. God allows tough love to be a huge part of our growth in Him. Look how he treated His own son. The cross is tough love. It could not get any tougher then that was. God sent His only begotten son to the Cross to suffer and die in our place. Christ who had no sin became sin. He took every sin that we ever commit into Himself. He suffered hell in our place and He was separated from the father for the first time in all of eternity for us. We cannot understand the magnitude of this sacrifice He freely gave for us. It was a sacrifice that no man could do. God became man to accomplish this for us. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. That is tough love at its best. It is best because we are saved by the blood of Christ. Without the cross we are all doomed to eternal damnation.
But you see, we get caught up in the world and all of its troubles and we see them instead of Christ crucified for us. We have looked away from the cross and are looking at ourselves. Sin and Satan wants to destroy us and they will go to any means to do this. And we ask ourselves why does God allow us to suffer inwardly so very much. It is tough love. It is to purify us and for our growth. We sometimes must be broken before we can be whole. To break us we must suffer. And when we see our sins then we repent and give it over to God and desire that God be in control of our lives. It is all about obedience. We can know Gods word but if we do not obey we are not personal with God. He wants us to do His will and not our own will. God uses suffering to build our character.
We may have unrepentant sin and we are suffering in the guilt of this sin. Guilt can drag us down to the pit. We may see our sin and our guilt and we confess it but we cannot forgive ourselves and we believe that if we cannot forgive ourselves neither can God forgive us. This is Satan’s lie.
Life is precious and God gave us life through Jesus Christ. When we hold onto God by His Word, worship and prayer He will pull us out of the pit in His way and in His timing. There is a reason if He leaves us there for a time. He is not cruel; he loves us so much that we cannot understand his love. But it can be tough love. If we hang onto God He will see us through it and we will come out the winner because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us. He will see us though it by His Holy Spirit working in us to make us into the person that He desires for us to be. Hold fast and know that there is a reason. Hold fast and you will be the victor through Christ. Open your eyes and see the light of hope in Christ. He never leaves us nor forsakes us (Heb. 13:5). Read all of the promises that God has made to you in the Bible and hold these truths up and store them in your heart. God cannot lie and everything He says in His Word He will do without a doubt.
“And since we are his children, we will share his treasures, for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours too. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later” (Rom.8:17, 18).
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).
You can reach Nancy at:
Crossing the GAP
PO Box 384
Marshall, IL
62441
Monday, January 8, 2007, 05:34 PM
Our Legacy to others
We must listen to our own lives to know what to leave as a legacy to others. We must look at our past to see how we felt in certain failures, sins and situations. Look at the people around us to see how they responded to the right or wrong things we did or did not do. How did all of this make you feel?
I heard a preacher say, “What is stupidity?” His answer went something like this—it is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results the next time. Wisdom is changing our tac-tics and even maybe our life style. Wisdom is looking at our past and really seeing where we went wrong. Wisdom can be writing it all down and thinking about the changes that can be made to correct the bad results from the past mistakes. Wisdom is using it in a positive way to help others so that they will not fall into the same trap (if possible).
I have personally lived a stupid life. I continued to make the same mistakes for many years. I lived in the delusion that this time it would be different. This time it will work out as I desire. I look back and I see it only brought emotional heartache and pain every time. It has taken all of my life to see this. Now, what have I done with it? I am using it for the good of others. I am writing it down. I am living it. I am experiencing a freedom that I have never experienced before. My heart is full of joy. I am content.
What changed all of this? My continued growth in Jesus Christ changed it all. Did I have the ability to do it myself? No I did not. Yes, I could change a part of my life style and my attitude might improve to a certain degree but would I experience what I am experiencing now. No I would not be experiencing anything close to it. The reason is because this inner peace, joy, love and contentment does not come from my own desires, experiences or a conscious change in my attitude. What I have can only come from the Holy Spirit. God has been changing me for 30 years. I have been a Christian for about that long. And it has been a gradual growing up just as we do physically. Many Christians remain stagnate in their faith. The reason is that they do not come to know God but remain in their childhood condition. Many do not desire to do the will of God but to continue to do their own thing.
We have a tendency at times to view the failure of our loved ones as personal. All we can see is the hurt the person has caused us. What about the hurt we ourselves cause others and God? We are to lay our feelings aside and look at them. What do they cry out for? We may experience feelings of despair and helplessness. We will feel disappointment in their words or actions. But we must continue to focus on their need—not our need. They are the one crying out for help. Our need is that they act the way we want them to. Their need is that we forgive and love them. What would Jesus do? He forgave and loved.
There are always consequences for our sins and our wrong decisions. We all must pay for our mistakes. But to point a finger and say you did such and such to me puts them on the defensive and they will withdraw and then there is no help for them. If our desire is to help them then we must lay our personal pain aside and reach out to them. I started this paper saying it is stupid to repeat the same way of life and expect different results. If I point the finger and say you did this or that to me every time someone messes up I too am stupid and expecting positive results from my repetitious response to the person that has hurt me. I have been on the receiving and sending end as most of us have.
If we see the remorse and the hurt in someone they do not need an accusation. They are already feeling guilty enough. We need to encourage. They do not need a sermon. They need love and acceptance. They struggle inwardly. God can work in their lives to show them His heart when we respond to them in a compassionate and loving way. God works through us.
Self-esteem is extremely important when someone has failed so badly. A path of put downs will never get them on the right path. When there is evidence of remorse build them up with forgiveness, love, respect and comfort. They will remember this when they fail again and know that their self-esteem will not be attacked. We all fail—we all need encouragement to not fail. I have been stupid more times than I can count. I will be stupid again. But I am wiser now and I do pray that God will be my guide. And I always know that by the sacrificial blood of Christ I am forgiven. He washed me clean by taking all of my sins on the cross—past, present and future. I am free because of His unconditional love for me. We are all free when we know God’s saving Grace through Christ. We are to love unconditionally because Christ loves us un-conditionally. There is always payment for sins and wrong decisions but when there is remorse then we do not need to add to it. I do not want to be stupid and come down on them and expect the results to be different this time. Try a new way and show love and compassion and watch the results. This should be our legacy to others.
You can reach Nancy at:
Crossing the GAP
PO Box 384
Marshall, IL 62441
art@nancysgallery.com
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