A Letter of Forgiveness

In our last LifeGroup (bible study), I lead the guys through how we apply the gospel to relationships, specifically in the area of forgiveness. The big idea of the study was this-

"The Gospel frees us to forgive. When we are witness to the forgiveness that Christ has for us, our hearts should be turned to forgive others in the same manner. Though each of our sins is a sin against the Lord, only a small portion of each persons sin is sin against us. Through both experiencing and reasoning through the gospel, our hearts are shaped to forgive.

At the end of the study, each guy wrote a Letter of Forgiveness to a person who had hurt them greatly. I got the idea from a few counselor-friends who use the technique in situations of abuse or conflict. In order to tie everything back to the gospel and give the men in my bible study an idea of what to write, I constructed an example Letter of Forgiveness. However, this one was as if God were writing to us. I've copied and pasted the letter below. I hope you like it!

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 My Sons,

Before you were even born, I knew everything about you. I knew which sports you would like (if any). I knew which subjects in school you would enjoy most. I knew all of your little quirks and kinks. I couldn’t wait to form you.

I watched you grow, so little, so curious, and so afraid. Your body was so small and so delicate. I protected you and cared for you, gave you a mother and a father to love you.

But even in your innocence, you left me.

You ignored me and instead turned to other things to feel protection and love. You chose them over me.

You thought me boring, a chore. You were ashamed of me. You spoke my name with disgust. You rejected me and looked away from me. You heart became hard and cold against me. You separated yourself from me. You became my enemy.

You turned my creation against me, perverting things of purity and beauty into objects of pain and sin. You attacked others whom I love with your words and actions. You lived for your own good and allowed others to suffer at your expense. You allowed corruption, perversion, death, and pain… you allowed sin into my world.

You deserve death. In fact, you have chosen it. Do you not know who I am? Do you not see who you have been messing with? Against whom your sin has been this whole time? I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am your Creator and Heavenly Father. I am the Righteousness Lord. I AM.

With every act of pride, trickery, hate, lust, and abuse, my nature burns for justice. But also within my nature, my heart breaks.

For even when you hated me, even when you fought me as an enemy, you will still my creation, and I still desired for you to be my son.

So I made a deal long, long ago. I promised a way for your debt to be cancelled. I promised a way to restore a relationship with you.

“Instead of taking out justice on you, I will take it out on my Son, Jesus Christ,” I said. Is it fair for him? Is that fair for you? Is that fair for me? No. But along with my Son, I sacrifice my right to what I deserve, so that you will not receive what you deserve either. So don’t worry. All that death and pain you brought upon yourself? Jesus experienced it for you.

I forgive you.

It is only because of Jesus Christ that I am able to do this. In Him, I am able to forgive you for your sins committed against me and offer a restored relationship. In Him, you can experience the gifts of my mercy and grace.

I want to offer you one last opportunity. I want to offer you the chance to return to me. I want to offer you a renewed and restored relationship. I want to call you my son once again. If you accept, you can trust that I will never leave you, that I will always provide for you, that I will protect you, that I will bless you, that I will work ever circumstance of your life out for your good, and that we will spend the rest of eternity together.

I cannot wait. I have so much planned for you and I. You’re going to love it.

I have loved, do love, and will love you for the rest of eternity.

Your Father.

Living On Mission

I wanted to post and ask for prayer and support over my mission for the end of project.

With less than 3 weeks left, it could be easy to become comfortable, complacent, and apathetic. It could be easy to spend all my time on a "bucket list" rather than the Lord's will. It could also be easy to sit around and wish for all the "shoulda, woulda, coulda's".

I don't want to do that.

I would much rather witness the Lord do amazing things in our team and the community of Clearwater, things that may seem impossible at the moment. Whatever my role may be in the Lord's plan for the upcoming weeks, I want to be prepared and ready.

Romans 12:1 encourages us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices as an act of worship. This is my hope and plan!

I will be waking up in order to spend about an hour and a half with the Lord each morning. I will also be renewing my heart towards loving and serving others. I want to use my spare time (besides obvious periods of needed rest) to serve my teammates or bring the gospel to the community. I want to be using the last couple weeks to Glorify the Lord.

Its hard to say exactly what will happen. I do not know His will, but I will keep you all updated on what he does through me!

Thanks so much for all your prayer and support!

Accepting My New Identity

I am terrible at receiving gifts.

I don't know what to say. It makes me feel awkward. I want to say thanks, I really do. But I don't know how. To be honest, I sometimes wonder if I'm really thankful. It doesn't make sense to me. Why am I getting a gift?

I mean, birthday and Christmas gifts- that's expected. And when I earn it- like my Eagle Scout award, or awards, or scholarships- that makes sense to me. I earned it. I worked hard and I deserve what I get. 

However, this idea of a free gift, something given randomly or simply out of love, its hard for me to accept.

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I think this particular trait has carried over into my spiritual life.

It has been a constant struggle in my walk to accept the gifts the Lord has given me in His grace. In my freshman year of college, I finally allowed Christ to forgive me for my past. This summer, I am finally accepting the new Identity he has given me in Christ.

You see, it just doesn't make sense to me. An identity is something I create. I am defined by what I am, what I do, and what I say. I create my identity. It is something I deserve or earn. 

However, the word says that our new identity is in Christ. As I have learned what that means, I have come to understand that we literally inherit all of Christ's righteousness. We are granted his perfect life, his perfect reputation, and his perfect love in the eyes of the Lord. 

This is where I hit a snag... I didn't earn that. I have not lived a perfect life. I am very far from righteous at times. It doesn't make sense for me to have the identity of Christ. It doesn't seem fair.

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But isn't that what makes Grace so beautiful. While I am broken and sinful and far from perfect, the Lord has given me an identity that is wholly and completely righteous. Is it fair? No. Grace and Mercy have never been fair.

That is the beauty of the gospel, that we are allowed this new identity because the Lord loved us enough to satisfy His justice on His son, rather than us. But His Son was more than just a man, but fully God as well. Because of this, He was able to conquer death and give us His identity. 

This has been something that the Lord has been teaching me a lot this summer. As I have grown in my understanding of my identity, it has affected my understanding of manhood, how I deal with sin, heart issues, and much more in my walk. 

Hopefully this has been easy to understand! Haha, I know sometimes a thought process really only works for the original thinker. Be praying for me as I continue to grow and minister in the Clearwater area!