Forgiven

"Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." -Jesus in Luke 7:47

I was sitting in church listening to this message preached by Pastor Aaron Kunce, and something about this verse really grabbed a hold of me. It has been resounding in my head ever since. What Jesus was saying was that those who have been forgiven of more sin are more grateful for it.

So many of us shudder at the idea of God letting murders and rapists into Heaven, even though we know that they have to do is believe, just as we have. I thought of this from a new perspective yesterday:

God created us in His image in order to bring Him joy. His ultimate joy is accomplished when we truly love Him. In this parable, Jesus spoke of two men who owed money to another man but neither were able to repay the debt. One man owed 50 shekels, and the other owed 500 shekels. Since neither were able to pay, the creditor forgave both debts. Then Jesus asks which of those two men would love the debtor more.

It is the same way with our sins, those of us who are forgiven more, appreciate it more. So if God's ultimate goal is to be loved by us, then of course He will forgive all of us, even those who have "transgressed more" than others.

When I was explaining this to my wife, I said that only men see sin as different layers or dimensions. God sees sin as one dimensional. It is all the same in His eyes.

Have you ever been discouraged and wondering how God could ever forgive you of something you had done? Next time you feel that way, refer to this parable and remember: Christians are not perfect, they are just forgiven.

Luke 7:36-50


This blog was inspired by the sermon preached by Pastor Aaron Kunce at Living Word Community Church on July 11, 2010.

Black and White

"You don't really live your live in black and white do you?" I was just listening to "The Virtue of Selfishness" by Ayn Rand and this topic came up. I will not be quoting her, because I am only using her thoughts to kick off this discussion, but I wanted to give credit to her for winding me up and pointing me in the right direction.

The issue is compromise. So many people these days sing the praises of compromise and it is looked at as a necessity in order to exist in our current society. I want to turn that notion on it's ear. The problem with compromise is that in order to compromise, someone must win and the other must lose. Think about it: it is impossible for our lives to just be shades of gray. After all, gray is made up of black and white and therefore cannot exist without them. Gray also cannot exist without changing the true black or true white.

If morality is compromised, it does so at the loss of morality and the victory of evil. If truth is compromised, un-truth wins. You cannot compromise absolutes. If there are no absolutes, than man is free to do what he wants, wherever he wants, whenever he wants. Would you want to compromise between life and death? Would you want to compromise between love and hate? How about law and crime?

Compromise is not a win for both parties, because you are either right or you are wrong. You cannot be partially of half right, because by that very definition you are wrong. Think about it this way. Say there are 9 experts in Engineering sitting around a table and they have come up with a plan for a project, and then a 10th person sits at the table who has no experience in Engineering at all. This 10th person insists that their opinion is not only heard, but immediately implemented, does this make the plan better or worse? If you include a bad idea with a good idea, it then becomes a bad idea. There is no way around that.

You will face all kinds of situation in this life in which you are tempted to compromise. Just remember that in compromise there is no winner. We need men and woman today that stand on absolute, un-wavering truths and principles and refuse to blur the line for anyone or anything. We need people who are not willing to compromise their morals, their ethics, or their principles.

Will you be that man or woman?