forgiveness

In this meditation from By Faith Alone, Martin Luther considers 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

Here, Peter builds upon a passage from the book of Proverbs: “Hate starts quarrels, but love covers every wrong” (Proverbs 10:12). And this is what Peter means: If you don’t restrain your sinful nature and desires, you will easily become angry with others. You will be unable to forgive others easily. So make sure you curb your evil desires. Then you will be able to love and forgive others, for love covers sin.

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After reading yesterday’s post on praying for our enemies, Not Saussure was kind enough to point me to the blog of Rachel of North London, a woman who survived the terrorist train bombings on July 7, 2005. In her post “The F Word,” Rachel explores the meaning of forgiveness in very real, very practical terms.

As Rachel recounts both her own feelings and those of other victims, the recurring theme is that forgiveness is necessary. She quotes Kristy, who says, “Forgiveness is self-preservation; if I can’t forgive it will destroy me.” Rachel says of herself,

For me forgiveness is about moving through the storm of pain and outrage, holding onto my essential self, which was there before the devastating event. It’s hard to let go of the desire for revenge: anger became my sole driver in the months after the first attack. But to be trapped in a state of permanent rage hurts me. I hold what has happened to me… and I try to live through it. I do not want to live a life defined entirely by an attack on me.

Forgiveness is a choice, and a gift I make to myself, to live freely in the light, rather than to be trapped in a hell of hatred and vengefulness. It has little to do with the perpetrators of the crimes; it is for me, not them that I choose to do this. It is how I stay sane.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said that “To forgive is not just to be altruistic. It is the best form of self-interest.” My own experience has taught me this truth: unforgiveness will eat me alive. Clearly, there is a real benefit in forgiveness.

For Christians, the question is not so much “Will I forgive?” as “How do I forgive?” read the complete post

Lazarus, Night of the Living Dead, and the joy of surrender

September 2, 2006
This entry is part 4 of 10 in the series humility

Just in case I was uncertain about focusing on humility right now, the Holy Spirit provided ample confirmation Thursday afternoon. I was a little discouraged and decided to read Oswald Chambers’ Utmost and Martin Luther’s By Faith Alone. Here’s what I found–

Luther, writing about Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, says, “Of all the sacrifices we can make, the one most acceptable to God is this: getting rid of sin, living a holy life, obeying God, and killing our corrupt nature.” I love how Luther finishes: “This is very painful and unpleasant for us to do.”…

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Your promise gives me life

August 28, 2006

The Little Book of Hours has included readings from Psalm 119 every day for the past week, and Saturday’s portion blessed me. The writer says,

This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.
The insolent utterly deride me,
but I do not turn away from your law. (v. 50–51)

In the past, I read affliction as sickness or some other source of physical suffering. And it can certainly mean that. For most of us, though, we likely experience more pain and suffering in relationships, and relational issues–people problems–can suck the life out of us pretty quickly…

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of prayer books, thorns, and forgiveness

August 19, 2006

The Little Book of Hours: Praying With the Community of JesusAs part of my effort to pray more intentionally (instead of just more frequently), I’ve committed to use The Little Book of Hours, which provides morning, midday, evening, and nighttime prayers for thirty days. I bought it almost two years ago and started with it several times, but I never lasted more than a few days. I started with it (again) last Sunday, and it took me until Wednesday to manage all four prayer times. Now that I’m in this mode, I’m very much enjoying it.

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the good news

January 30, 2006

Yesterday, Chris taught one of the best lessons I’ve heard from him. As a conclusion to a series on changing our thinking, he explained the power of words. This is a topic that is deeply important to me, in large part because I’ve experienced the power of both wrong and right words to bring about change…

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wisdom from an unexpected source

March 10, 2005

As I was flipping through the channels, I heard one character on All My Children say to another: “To hate your parent is like drinking slow-acting poison. It only kills you in the end.”

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