FORGIVE
– AS WE ARE FORGIVEN
Pastor Larry Gatlin, So Oregon
It's
Fall! One of my most favorite times of the year. I love the colors and how
everything starts changing. The weather is getting cooler and the animals are
starting to change their habits. The other afternoon I was doing some errands
for the church and while I was driving around I noticed the biggest 3x4
Black-tail buck that I have seen in a long time. WOW, he was big and actually a
bit of a bully to some of the young deer that were herded up with
him. It was certainly a true picture of natural beauty.
Isn't
it interesting how a certain time of the year or at least a certain activity
attached to that time of year can trigger a memory from our past. And in
some cases, such as the one that I experienced this morning, it can be a very
sobering and thought provoking moment.
As
a young man, one of my Fall chores was to keep all the leaves raked in our
yard. It was a messy job because we had a large Green Gage Plum tree. The left
over rotten ones were often difficult to pick up and put into a container. I
grew to hate raking leaves. Though, it was not optional and carried a penalty
if the job wasn't accomplished with rapid action.
Now
allow me to depart from the leaf story for a moment. My Dad was a good man and I
loved him. But there were times when we had some difficulties. One of my
primary hurts in life has always been my Dads lack of involvement in my life. I
remember calling him my Freshman year in Bible college and announcing that I
had made the final cut for the varsity basketball team. His response made a
heavy impression on me. He only grunted and without any excitement in his voice
said, "so" how is everything else going? I was so
disappointed he hadn't recognized my accomplishment that I made an excuse and
hung up. It hurt, I know now that he didn't mean to hurt me, but it did
tremendously. My Dada was one of those hard working guys who put more time and
effort into his job than his family. I can now look back and see where he was
coming from. But at eighteen it just didn't fit well. Actually it fit like a
pair of tight shoes that you had bought and lost the sales slip so they
couldn't be returned for a refund. Or at least exchanged for another pair that
would fit better.
Many
years past, I married and became a Dada myself. I even grew to realize
that my Dad or as I loved to call him "POP", had some how become one
of the most intelligent men I had ever known. Though he only had an eighth
grade education. When I was going to make a major purchase or needed some good
advice on life situations I always called POP. True to form, he always
had some good advice for me. Although I will confess that I didn't always heed
his advice, I always wished that I had.
Now
regardless of how you might feel about the reports concerning the move of God
taking place in Toronto, my curiosity got the best of me. So I was off to find
out for myself whether this thing was of God or not. Again I am not trying to
endorse or promote anything. I just want to share something that happened to me
while I was there.
During
the six days I visited Toronto, I had several opportunities to be prayed
for and to spend quality time with our Heavenly Father. It was during one of
these prayer times that the Lord spoke to my heart and suddenly I knew exactly
how Peter must have felt when Jesus asked; "Do you Love me more than
these?" John 21:15
When
they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John,
do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said,
"you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
(NIV)
The
reason I say that I suddenly knew how Peter must have felt is because in my
heart, I heard the Lord speak those same words to me. Man, it really puts you
on the spot when you know that the Lord is concerned enough about you to
confront you with a question like that. It's also just a bit frightening.
I found myself delivering a very similar answer as had Peter so many years ago.
"Lord you know that I love you." But just as with Peter once wasn't
enough - Two more times the Lord spoke to my heart. And two more times I
responded in the same way. "Lord you know that I love you." Now with
Peter the Lord gave this response, "Feed my sheep."
You
would think that as a Pastor the Lord would have the same directive for me. But
he didn't. Instead of asking me to feed His sheep, "He spoke to my heart
and said, FORGIVE your earthly father." Oh boy now He has me right where
he wanted me and had to take me all the way across the continent to get me
there. Suddenly there was a rush of Gods Love that filled my heart and my eyes
as I wept and cry out to the Lord saying Lord I forgive my POP!
Now back to the
leaves. This morning as I was raking, at my wonderful wife's request, I found
myself going back in time to my childhood and for some reason those old
feelings of resentment towards POP rose up in me again. It was at that very
moment that I stopped and made a conscious decision to once again, in a fresh
way, issue forgiveness towards the hurts of my past. Let me tell you, what a
difference it made. I was headed for a real lousy day. But with that one act of
allowing my Spirit to rise up and issue a fresh announcement of forgiveness
towards my past and my POP my day turned from one of disaster to rejoicing!
I
know that there are those who teach that, "if you haven't forgotten, you
haven't forgiven." But you know what? God didn't create us that way. He
gave us a memory. Some of our memories are good and some are not so good.
What we do about our memories is what will determine at least in part, what our
future will be. If we take those memories and use them as an opportunity to
prove Gods love for our lives and the lives of others, our quality of life
rises. If we allow the memories of the past to drag us down, our quality of
life will deteriorate.
So
here's what we must do. Any time that the enemy of our soul brings a past hurt,
fear or frustration to our remembrance. We must stop, and take the opportunity
to immediately issue a fresh proclamation of forgiveness towards the one who
originally caused us pain. By doing so we counter the attack of the enemy while
at the same time we improve our quality of life.
So
go ahead and rake those leaves. May every brush of the rake remind you;
"that our Heavenly Father LOVES you more than anyone else ever
could." And when we belong to HIM, we know that He has forgiven us. The
very least we can do, IS FORGIVE THOSE WHO HAVE EVER HURT US - Past, present or
future. Forgiveness must become a LIFE STYLE for all who call themselves, "CHRISTIANS."
