Serendipitous Intervention Page 40

We’ve all made mistakes and harbor regrets.  This means different things to each of us.  Within our regrets we see the worst of ourselves. Because of this, we sometimes deem ourselves as unworthy and we title ourselves the same! We may relive and rehash our disappointments and then stay close to what we have purposely classified ourselves because we believe we deserve it.  Such is the business of regret!  In doing so we unwittingly starve our souls of the one thing that it deserves -forgiveness...and within that an ability to begin again…to change!

A Mistake is, in itself, a definition of a misdeed -not a defining of who we are as a person...yet many of us internally overlook this truth!  Some are forced to live under the weight of our mistakes due to the legal repercussions of our choices.  Some of us live under its weight to self-punish.  With these and other reasons, we struggle with our mistakes- for they usually bring such toil.  

There is one thing powerful enough to free us from the bonds of our mistakes; unfortunately, we humans would rather struggle and search the world for another way to rectify our missteps. However, most times there is only one way out and that is through the power of forgiveness!  It’s amazing to me that forgiveness has so much sway. It is literally a legal tool called probation; a financial tool called a write-off; a relational tool called recommitment; a parental tool called unconditional love; a compassionate tool called mercy and a spiritual tool called salvation.  Forgiveness releases us; it frees us.  Forgiveness saves us from a moral, emotional death and as Christians we believe it is a spiritual mechanism that saves us from an eternal death.  Scripture says….

“For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23

 We all know that here on earth sin presses in and never release us- for we are chronically pursued by a restless heart-that is wicked above all else.  There will never be away around sin and selfishness…and avoidance of this truth is irrational.  Therefore, something more spiritual will have to reign.  Even those of us that are not necessarily “religious” use the invisible tool of forgiveness to maintain relationships with others.  This is the same concept Christians use to stay in the will of God. You see, there must be a way to reconcile our sinful hearts and find some peace.  Forgiveness is the way, yet mortal man did not have the ability to accomplish this- so God, Himself had to come to earth to set an example.  He did so through the body and teachings of Jesus, Christ. The truth that we need to be saved from our own wickedness is morally obvious, yet it gets clouded in this immoral world!  Forgiveness brings the exact clarity we need!

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret,
 but worldly sorrow brings death.”

2 Corinthians 7: 10

When we find that we can’t stand the weight of our mistakes any longer...and when we feel that the person we’ve become is simply not what we were meant to be...a mental and spiritual door appears before us. With this juxtaposition, change has just placed itself on the horizon and presented us an alternative to our current existence.   Frequently, it takes more time than necessary to arrive at this doorway leading to change...but it will present itself sooner or later....because through the conscious mind the Holy Spirit has a way of bringing things that are not....into being.  The world of psychology may call it mind-over-matter and others may simply title it serendipity, but I call it divine intervention.  No matter what you deem it....it will eventually arrive and will not delay for that is how God works.

There is a scripture that I love that speaks of this exact serendipitous intervention:  

 “For the revelation awaits an appointed time;

it speaks of the end and will not prove false.

Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”

Habakkuk 2:3

This seems like a tongue twister...or a mystery to be solved.  To me it is a form of power- the power of the written word.  The writer is stating with certainty that the appointed time will arrive and will not delay.  

The act of forgiveness may linger unused but will arrive in our lives when we graciously surrender ourselves to it.  Either way, it has an appointed time and will ultimately end our suffering.  It is our choice if forgiveness lingers...or comes without delay.    We can wait in the realm of bitterness till its nasty affects leave us resentful and rotten...yet sooner or later forgiveness will present itself as the merciful option for all involved.  We will either surrender and forgive or doom ourselves to this bitterness and its canny ability to consume us to the very end.  

Truly you are aware that the ability to forgive is held within you.  There is something in us that stirs this hope.   IT is my belief that God placed it there, as a gift.  This blessed and merciful gift is there for us to give without hesitation and without being asked-to others and most importantly to ourselves.  To do so, we may have to push past the reputation we’ve created for ourselves and find our integrity.

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory

 and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. 

After he had provided purification for sins,

 he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

Hebrews 1: 3

Song Recommendation:

Changed
By:  Rascal Flatts

This writing is about forgiveness between us humans.  The gift of forgiveness is the basis of Christianity and is the example we use in our pursuit to forgive.  The ultimate act of forgiveness was exhibited when Jesus died on a cross like a criminal to pay a debt.  The debt he paid was not His own…. but ours; mine and yours!  When a crime is committed a punishment ensues.  Sin is the crime and a mortal body is the punishment.  As a Christian we believe that Jesus died on the cross as a final punishment to our criminally sinful nature and He rose again on the 3^rd day as an indication that He defeated sin and death.  We have a spiritual victory over human nature and an eternal promise through our belief in Christ.  In other words, We are a spiritual being with an eternal destiny.  Let's not miss it!

What a Privilege Page 39

Scripture says in Luke 10 verse 23:

“Then he turned to his disciples and said privately,
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I tell you that many prophets
 and kings wanted to see what you see
but did not see it,
and to hear but did not hear it.”

One of my favorite topics to write about is that of the unseen.  That spiritual side of life-which is invisible and therefore could be misunderstood, over-looked, taken for granted, forgotten about… or specifically ignored.  What is so interesting about the scripture above is that Jesus is speaking privately with his disciples about the opposite of this.  Metaphorically speaking, He opened up the ancient pages of the Old Testament and shared with the disciples something extremely profound; that they had been given the historic and prophetic opportunity to see and hear something that kings and men through the ages had been studying about, teaching about, prophesying about, spiritually wondering about and literally waiting on!  

 I can’t imagine the tone in which Jesus spoke these words but I know the tone in which I read them; with a powerful wonderment, with a whispered astonishment, with a deep sense of truth! I could go on and on about how steeped in honor this verse of scripture is but just re-read it yourself in the light of the ages and in the light of the fact that Jesus was standing before them as the fulfillment of prophesy, The Messiah, and marvel at the reality that we also have the privilege of peering back in time with the use of our Bible and clearly see what the disciples were living out. 

We have not physically met Jesus Christ but we can physically read the Bible and research where its text comes from.   There are ancient manuscripts that have been proven historically accurate from the Christian and non-Christian community that we may use for our own study and conclusion.  Using Luke 10:23 as a reference we can assist Christ in making His case by asking the following:  At this point in time, who is the most influential figure in history?   World History and the literary world hold the answer to this and it is Jesus Christ, himself!  His life and testimony has influenced the world since his birth.  Below are just a few ways Jesus’ life has influenced us all.  Think about this:

“Even people who are not Christian or even religious are influenced
in big and small ways by Christ.  They divide history into the time before and after his birth, BC and AD.  Sunday is a worldwide holiday, not as many believe,
 because it is the day of the Sabbath (which is Saturday)
but because it was traditionally held to be the day of Christ’s resurrection.
 The history of the West, indeed of the world,
is incomprehensible without Christ, and would be unimaginably different
had he not lived.”1

We know as a U.S. citizen that our country would be vastly different had it not been founded on the Christian principles on which it stands, or teeters, as it may!  U.S. History has plenty of documents that can be used to verify this truth!  Our country is one thing- the entire world something larger, to be sure.  With the risk of being redundant, why in the world, would we divide the literal “history of time” with the Life (BC) and death (AD) of Jesus Christ?  Influence?  Indeed! 

 Here’s another thought-provoking question:  Do we have to see everything first-hand to believe that it is true?  The answer to this question comes from common sense!   “We don’t have to witness every event firsthand in order to believe the event actually occurred.  In fact, it would be physically impossible to do so.  We believe the testimony of others if they are trustworthy individuals, and especially if their testimony is corroborated by other data.  This is exactly the case with the testimony of the New Testament writers.”2 

This is where this writing steps into my favorite locale-that of the “unseen”.  It is human nature to want visual verification regarding certain things.  However, there are times when we must go on the verifiable word of others using trust.  In the case of Christianity, we are going to have to believe the corroborated testimony of the disciples and writers living in the 1^st century A.D.   

As an interesting tie-in and a blessing of encouragement, Jesus said this:

“Because you have seen me, you have believed;  

blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:29

Jesus was fully aware that some people would need a visual…. but He was also aware that there would be those of us, through the centuries, who would have no other choice but to go on faith and with this in mind, He spoke these words:  “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  We have nothing but manuscripts and our faith to take the message of Christ into the next generation and for doing so we receive the blessings of tenacity, hope, strength and favor-the spoken favor of Christ himself as stated in John 20:29

 Back to our scripture in Luke 10: 23- the disciples were standing present with Christ.  Through Jesus’ own words we see that they neither realized the full ramifications of Christ’s life nor the impact of his current statement until later.  Then, they set out to change the world and indeed they did.  Jesus was speaking to the disciples that day and just as intended His words also speak to us.  He would say the same thing today as He did then:

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see”!
Luke 10:23

Song Recommendation:

Glorious Day

By:  Casting Crowns

1-Dinesh D’Souza; What’s So Great About Christianity, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 2008

2-Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek; I Don’t have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Crossway/Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 2004