Month: December 2018

There is something very desirable in having something new. Things get worn out. Concepts of a former time no longer seem to work for us. And sometimes we just get bored with the same old things. Failures need to be left behind and new efforts made to bring us success in life. This is the hope of every new year with new resolutions made and a new resolve formed in our mind. We have confidence in new things and in a new determination to make the new year better than the old. New ways of doing things sometimes are successful but often discarded in the next new year. Sometimes our resolutions do not make it through the New Year’s party. We determine to change our bad habits but the old hang on with great tenacity until we can form new habits with repeated new behavior. What can change the yearly frustration of self-expectations not met? Take truth into the new year.

But truth is eternal and so never has the shine of newness. And thoughts that seem new to us are as old as the dust of the earth. Solomon in his wisdom stated, “There is nothing new under the Sun.” Eternal truth may seem very new to us if we have not encountered it before or if we have not thought about it for a length of time. Jesus had a meeting with one of the most educated and powerful men of His day; a man whom people called “teacher”; a respected Pharisee named Nicodemus. He wanted to know something about Jesus and came to him at night so that he might talk to Jesus without the interruption of the crowds that thronged Jesus during the daylight hours. Nicodemus admitted that Jesus was a “teacher come from God for no one can do the things that You do, except that God is with him.” But Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was doing by his miracles and good works. Jesus ignored the complement saying, “You must be born again; born from above; born of the Spirit of God, or you will never comprehend the Kingdom of God or understand what I am doing.”[1] Nicodemus thought that was crazy, “Can a man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again when he is old?” Jesus said that this would be a spiritual rebirth that would produce a life that would extend beyond death and exist in the timeless realm of God forever. Then Jesus gave him old truth to carry forward that would truly change the life of Nicodemus forever.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only begotten Son of God. John 3:16-18

This is the old, old story that seems so new to people these days. But the truth that Jesus gave to Nicodemus is eternal; evergreen. If we will carry this truth into the New Year and act on it with faith and true repentance unto God, we will be saved, and our life truly changed for the better—eternally. Receive Jesus today and carry old truth into the new year.

George Cargill

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[1] Gospel of John 3:1-21 (paraphrased, emphasis mine)

Remembrance of new life is a memory that we cherish. That image of the first sight of a new baby is one of those memories that never seems to fade. These days we fill up the social media with images of our newborns. In the days when I was a new daddy one sent photos to distant family in the mail and brought snapshots to work to show co-workers. I even annoyed total strangers with my love and pride for my boys. Looking through the glass at the natal ward, everyone in the family adored the new addition to the family. At the time I did not think of the good and bad things that would happen to my children during the course of their lives. If I had some supernatural way to know their future joys and sorrows, I would not look at it for fear of what I might see.

Jesus had a loving Father who looked from Heaven at His Son who was laid in a manger in infant cloths. The Word of God, that creative part of the One and Only True God, took on the limitations and frailty of flesh to be God’s One and Only Son. Jesus loves the Father, always confident of His Father’s love for Him. Jesus prayed that we would find that same love.

” You loved Me before the foundation of the world… O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:24-26

  But the shadow of the cross fell across the manger where Jesus lay. The Father could not hide His eyes from the destiny of the cross for His Beloved Son. And Jesus became well aware of His mission to serve as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world, even our sins, yours and mine. It seems the cross was the only way that the scales of sin and judgment could be counter-weighed with grace and mercy.  So, at Christmas time think of the love that the Father and the Son have for us. May the Holy Spirit bless your soul in this holiday season.

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3:16-17

Perhaps no command of Jesus is more difficult to put into practice than what he commanded His disciples in Luke 17:3-4,

“Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

It does not seem to be fair to us that someone can do or say something to hurt us and then just say, “I am sorry, forgive me,” and we just forgive them. Really? But it is worse than that. Jesus says that if they come back and offend again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again (that is seven “agains”) and asks for forgiveness, I am to forgive. How could I be such a sap? But it is even more than that. Jesus spoke about a “brother”, that is, someone who is close to us and should love us and not be so hurtful and oblivious to our injuries. Why should I treat someone like that with mercy and forgiveness time after time after time? The answer comes to me in my spirit, “That is how Jesus treats me when I ask for forgiveness again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.” In fact, Jesus tells us after He taught his disciples to pray, “forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us,”

“For if you forgive others for their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your sins.”  Matthew 6:14-15

O, that nasty two letter word, “if.” It is one of the most troublesome words in the Bible. It puts conditions on blessings that require our faithfulness and the making of a right decision. This flies in the face of a lot of people’s theology about personal responsibility. But time and time again Scripture teaches, “If we have faith, If we hold fast, If we repent,” and then “If we forgive.” But that “if” also puts the responsibility on the offender to repent. This involves not only a sorrow for sins but a decision to turn away from wrong action to right action. If someone truly repents and asks for forgiveness, Jesus says we must forgive.

If someone does not repent, are we required to forgive? I do not think that is what Jesus requires. But He showed us an even better way to peace of mind and release of corrosive anger. Forgive freely! From the heart. Jesus displayed the way to us by his example when He looked the people in the face who were nailing His hands to the cross and prayed, “Father, forgive them!” Jesus interceded in prayer with the Father in behalf of the people who were harming Him. When we pray this way, whether they have asked for forgiveness or not, it seems that the Holy Spirit works to heal our hearts and give us what the Bible calls the “peace that passes understanding.”

Free forgiveness does not seem to be a sensible thing to do for most folks. But those who have interceded with the Father asking Him to forgive those who have sinned against them and pleading with Him to never hold those things against the offender, find a blessed release from the anger and angst that comes from unforgiveness.

One more thing to guard our heart from the pain and guilt of unforgiveness. Be truly difficult to offend. Do not easily take offense at things. Let it slide. Not only will this give you peace of mind but will drive those who hate you to distraction. Be quick to forgive and hard to offend.