Love always says, “Sorry.”

“Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”  Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”  —Matthew 18:21-22 (NASB)

I remember the first time I nearly cried (OK, maybe a sniffle or low sob slipped out) at a chick-flick movie. It was Love Story, not the modern music video by Taylor Swift, but the 1970s classic movie with Ryan O’Neal and Allie McGraw. I was visiting my brother in Chicago who took me with his girlfriend to the movies. Being 16 years old, I had no idea that movies have plots that draw you in, build emotionally, and then drop you like a rock.

For all of you under 40, the plot of Love Story went something like this. A young but rich prep-school hockey jock meets and falls in love with a scholarly but poor ivy-league young lady. The spoiled preppie falls out with his millionaire father. The girlfriend, now the hockey jock’s wife, must quit school to put him through college and law school. Their struggle through tough times portrays some of the tenderest moments of the film. He finally graduates, passes the bar exam, and gets a great job with a prestigious law firm in the big city.

Just as they move into a new high rise apartment and prepare to settle down, have kids, and live happily ever after, she is diagnosed with cancer and dies. The rich father gets the news, arrives at the hospital just in time to greet his son exiting the hospital in grief. The father says, “I’m sorry.” The hurting son replies with the last line of the movie. “Love, means never having to say you’re sorry.” With that comment, he walks away from his father. Somewhere in here I think I struggled to hold in a 16-year-old’s sob. What pain. What a loss. What a crock of baloney.

In real life, love means you always say you’re sorry. If we were perfect, if we were God, never having to apologize might be true. But we are fallen human beings living in a fallen world. We mess up. We make mistakes, and we must continually admit when we are wrong and say, “I’m sorry.” I imagine, right now, there are men all over America, making apologies for forgetting Valentine’s Day. They forgot to even get a card, a flower, or small box of chocolates. I don’t believe in increasing the Gross National Product by overspending for holidays, but just a small thought and inexpensive token of love goes a long way in a relationship.

Peter asked the Lord how many times one should forgive someone, “Seven times?” Peter may have been trying to impress the Lord because some believe the local custom was to forgive three times. Jesus shocked Peter and the rest of the disciples by saying to forgive seventy times seven. James 5:16 urges us, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” 1 John 1:9 teaches us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” If confession heals our bodies, (Church body and physical bodies) and if in confession we find forgiveness and cleansing, then most certainly we should say we’re sorry. God I’m sorry for the things I’ve done, the rebellion I have lived. Honey, friend, or neighbor, “I’m sorry for forgetting. I’m sorry for hurting you.”

True Christian love and life means admitting when you are wrong and asking for forgiveness. May God give each of us the courage and conviction to say, “I was wrong; I am sorry.” God bless you with health, righteousness, and joy as you say, “Sorry.”

Compassion Never Forgets

“For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.”  —Deuteronomy 4:31

This past summer, I began to radically watch how much and what I eat. I’ve lost 40 pounds, and I know many of you claimed to have found it. My challenge now is to keep it off. I have cut down on salt, and I weigh myself every morning. If I eat just a few pretzels or even a chip or two, I can gain pounds by my morning weigh-in. Funny thing about salt; it works best when it isn’t noticed. If there is no salt in the food, there is a missing flavor. If you add too much salt and notice it, you have added too much. Just the right amount, not too much, not too little, makes the food taste just right. Also, our bodies need salt to live, but too much salt leads to high blood pressure and water retention.

Like most of life, a delicate balance is needed. One of the traits of God’s character is a delicate balance between God’s holiness and God’s love. One cannot control the other, but one cannot exist without the other. God is angry about sin, but loves sinners so much that He gave His only Son for us. Human beings struggle to balance holiness and love. In striving to be holy, we often become prideful and judgmental. In our desire to love, we tend to overlook blatant sinfulness in others’ lives and offer cheap grace like a swinging door.

The first of the two great commandments instructs us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength…Mark 12:30. That’s passion. When we get it, we often over get it. We become so focused on doing things our own way that we believe it is the only way. We become testy when other Christians suggest that there are other ways to love and serve God.

Remember James and John, nicknamed the Sons of Thunder, who wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy the Samaritan’s for their lack of hospitality toward Jesus. Jesus replied, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” (Luke 9:55 NKJV). The disciples were passionate, but often misguided.

God is a passionate God. God created the universe, our world, and human beings with a plan and purpose. In fulfilling that purpose, God has bound Himself to us in love. Even though we forget God’s love and rebel against His plans, God never forgets His promises. God is merciful and does not forget the covenant. Deuteronomy 4 describes that covenant in verse 20, “But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.”

Deuteronomy 4:21 and 24 reveals God as, “a consuming fire, a jealous God,” who is angry over sin. The balance to God’s character is found in verse 31, “God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget.” Compassion will not abandon a lost sheep, but will leave the 99 to go and search for one lost soul. Compassion does not destroy those who have fallen; rather, compassion comes to seek and to save the lost. Compassion never forgets. Compassion remembers the hurting and remembers God’s promises.

God is a compassionate God who is passionate about saving fallen human beings. Living among fallen humanity, it is difficult for us to balance holiness and love. But in Jesus Christ, we can be sure that God appeased His anger with the sacrifice of the sinless Son of God. Yes, God loves you and me that much. If God is a God of all compassion, shouldn’t we, His children, remember the least, the last, and the lost?

American Idols

“Do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden.  For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”    —Deuteronomy 4:23-4

The American Idol show is back and alive and well. This reality TV show auditions would be singers from across the nation and allows the American public to vote for their favorites. Contestants are eliminated one by one until only one remains, the next American Idol. The show has changed celebrity judges and gone to different cities but continues as a top rated program.

The idols of our American culture may change color, shape, and size through the years but remain alive and well, today.  One may define an idol as “anything other than God that we are tempted to worship, emulate, or believe will save us.” To the average American in pursuit of the American dream, an idol may be anything we believe can bring us life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s built in our DNA.

A few years ago, I identified five American Idols. I believe they, too, are alive and well.

Viva Las Vegas—pleasure brings peace and contentment.

The Mall—the accumulation of things will bring us safety and joy.

The Big Game—a fixation on sports and winning.                               

Fame—celebrity worship

Wireless—always being connected and on the go.

As I reviewed the list, I thought I really don’t struggle much with idols. Well, OK, I only watch golf if Tiger Woods or John Daley is playing. Talk about fallen celebrity worship. I was feeling pretty smug until I read a book by Greg Dutcher, You are the Treasure that I Seek. The subtitle really describes the challenge for us, “But there’s a lot of cool stuff out there, Lord.”

Dutcher says one way to identify the idols you worship is by observing that when your idol shakes, you shake. I thought about the things that trouble me or keep me awake at night. The lack of growth in the church, a poorly attended worship service, or a drop in giving causes me to stress. I guess I equate numerical success with God’s approval. Success may become an idol.

God called me to proclaim the Good News to those who have never heard or somehow missed it growing up. Since I use an interpersonal and testimonial style of evangelism, I depend upon personal attraction and character. In idol terms, I want people to like and respect me. In serving that idol, I seek to please people and do the right thing at the same time. One can seldom do both. Jesus always did the right thing, but they crucified Him.

What American idols are keeping you from following the Lord more fully? Maybe the five listed above aren’t problems for you. Then, identify yours. When your idol shakes, you will shake. So ask yourself, “What causes me to shake?” The scriptures tell us that God is a jealous God, an all consuming fire. God will not tolerate idols in any form. Ask the Lord to search your heart and reveal anything that competes with God for your love and devotion. Repent. Seek Jesus as your one and only treasure.

Carrying Your Own Load

^“For each one should carry their own load.”  —Galatians 6:5

My first “real” job was working for a carpenter in the summers. I lied (Is stretching the truth really a lie?) about my age so he would hire me. I was 16 and my birthday was coming in a few weeks. I told my boss, I was seventeen (well almost) and my birthday was in July. Later, I asked him what he would have done if I would have been injured on a construction site, he replied, “I figured you lied to me, you’d have to lie to the insurance company, too.”

My first day on the job, we were building an addition to a church, how ironic. Being the youngest man, or boy, on the crew and having never worked on roofs, I struggled to keep up fumbling to get roofing nails from my pouch to my hand and into my two fingers for nailing while trying to hang on. Working in pairs, my partner nailed three nails for every one of mine and also had to put the next shingle in place. They began to call me “cub bear.” I looked and acted like a clumsy cub bear. Not fun.

Remembering those early days of roofing, I sympathize with many folks in the workforce today continually being asked to do more with less. As persons retire, they are often not replaced. As corporate America down-sizes to cut cost, the remaining employees are expected to work harder to prop up the bottom line. I see many lives fumbling to hang on and running faster to keep up.

Right now, many of us are beginning to deal with our tax situation. The discussion of fair share comes up in life, work, and taxes. It seems on every side we are being asked to do more with less staff, to be involved in more things with less time in our schedule, and give to more needs with less money. How do we live faithfully in this time of history?

First, we have to believe the Lord is bigger than our circumstances. God knows our job, our neighbors, and our family. God may have us in just the right place for us to grow into His likeness and be a witness for Him.

Second, all the money we have is really the Lord’s. We are simply stewards trying to faithfully use the money God has entrusted into our hands. When we die, we will not take it with us. Let us spend it for heaven’s sake. Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33).  Life, pressure, and faithfulness are about priorities and trusting God.

The scriptures describe an interesting paradox in life and ministry. On the one hand, we are told, we should each carry our own burdens (Galatians 6:5), Later we find, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Paul goes on to say, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians. 6:2). Although the old adage, “10% of the people do 90% of the work” is true to some extent in every church, I envision a church where everyone prays, gives, and does their share.

The paradox in Galatians 6, carrying our own load versus bearing each other’s burdens, is beautifully concluded in verses 9-10, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Let us not become weary because, in the Lord, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Opportunities to help others are placed before us by God so we may be channels of His love and resources on the earth. Hang in there, God is not through with us yet. Anywhere God leads, God will provide. We can trust Him.