God doesn't hold grudges

Author's name withheld by her request

She could not forgive herself. She was convinced that God was angry with her over her sins. She felt the need to keep begging for forgiveness as though God were holding a grudge against her. She just assumed that until God was satisfied that she had suffered enough for her sin, he would not help her if she prayed for help. The reason this woman felt this way was because, as a child, someone would grow coldly silent for long periods of time and hold grudges against her. She tried and tried to get forgiveness but nothing worked. As a child, she didn’t have many experiences and this was normal to her. She ended up translating this behavior to God.

Maybe you endured someone’s silent anger when you were growing up. Maybe it is happening now. Maybe you tried and tried without success to get this person to forgive you. As a result of this, you may have a hard time forgiving yourself, thinking that God is treating you the same way. Maybe you feel like you can’t be forgiven. Maybe you can’t forgive yourself.

God is not like this. He did not wait until you “suffered enough” to send Jesus to be your Savior. If he had, Jesus never would have come, because we deserve nothing less than eternal suffering for our sins. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Jesus died for you when there was nothing good in you. That is how much he loves you. Because Jesus was punished for you, your sins have been forgiven in full. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).  There is no need to earn your forgiveness by begging God. Your forgiveness was accomplished when Jesus died on the cross. When he looks at you, God sees Jesus’ righteousness in place of your sins. Because of this, you can live in peace, knowing that Jesus already did everything necessary for you to be forgiven. God does not hold grudges, no matter what it is you have done. Like Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, he will say to you, “‘Then neither do I condemn you…Go now and leave your life of sin’” (John 8:11).

Testing God and Trusting God

One of the alumni of my Devotional Writing course, Becca Rehberger, has started a blog in which she's offering thoughts in connection with sermon excerpts from Martin Luther.  You might want to check out Becca's Notes on Luther blog. 

Becca has given me permission to feature one of her posts here also, on the Electric Gospel, as a way of introducing you to her page.  This is an item titled, "Testing God and Trusting God."

“He who holds fast to the Word alone, trusts and abides in it, does not doubt that what the Word says will come to pass; he who does not dictate aim or time or means or ways, but resigns all freely to God’s will and pleasure as to when, how, where, and by whom he will fulfill his Word; he, I say, has a true living faith which does not nor cannot tempt God. Learn then what it means to tempt God; it is easily understood; it is a deficiency of true faith. To faith belongs above all the Word of God, as the foundation and rock of faith (Complete Sermons of Martin Luther Volume 1.1, tr. Lenker, “Epiphany”, pg 367).”

"Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.’ 
But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.’ 
Then Isaiah said, ‘Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?" (Isaiah 7:11-13, NIV 2011)'”

The Bible frequently talks about human beings being tempted and tested, and we see the evidence of that temptation in our everyday lives. Whether our sin of choice is anger, envy, self-pity, or something else, the devil finds some way to dig his claws into us and tempt us to sin. So how can God be tested and tempted?

It’s true that Jesus was tempted while he was in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). However, the Bible speaks of God being tested in a different sense. Essentially, to test or tempt God is to expect him to do something he has not promised, or, as Luther puts it, “to believe when he did not command faith and gave us no Word, or to disbelieve when he bids believe and gives us his Word. (Complete Sermons of Martin Luther Volume 1.1, tr. Lenker, “Epiphany”, pg 367)”

God’s people have always been guilty of this. Ahaz, the king of Judah in the passage above, disbelieved God when he offered to give the king a sign — in wanting to avoid testing God, he did just that through his unbelief. However, Jesus resisted the temptation to test God in our place. This is especially evident when the devil told him that he should throw himself down from a high place because the angels would protect him (Matthew 4:5-7).

At first glance, it may seem as though the devil has a point, but that’s not the case. God gives us ways and means to protect us from physical and spiritual danger: food to prevent us from starving, work to help us support ourselves and our families, common sense to keep us from putting ourselves at unnecessary risk, and his Word to strengthen our faith. Jesus knew that putting himself at risk in this way was breaking the Fifth Commandment, which applies to our own life as well as others‘. God does not want us to dare him to do something he has not promised, nor does he want us to tell him when he can work.

That doesn’t mean God is absent or aloof. Far from it — in fact, he tells us to call upon him when other means of support fail (Psalm 50:15). He continually tells us in his Word to trust in him for deliverance in bodily needs (Malachi 3:10). In fact, the Lord’s Prayer includes a petition to “give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). So Christians work and remain watchful, using the ways God has given us to sustain ourselves while trusting in God to provide.

The most important piece of God’s provision deals not with our bodies, but with our souls. When it comes to saving ourselves from sin, we are helpless — as Ephesians 2:1 says, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins.” We can’t come to faith on our own any more than a dead person can do a cartwheel. God had to do all the work to bring us to faith: Jesus’s perfect life and innocent death paid for all of mankind’s sins, and the Holy Spirit’s power works faith in our hearts through God’s Word. Though we are tempted to tell God, “I can come to you on my own,” he has already done everything for us.

God has given us everything we need to know for salvation, and given us the freedom to serve him in everyday life. He gives us the power to overcome temptation and the faith to trust his Word. That fact frees us from fear of this life and the next.

Who are you?

A dear soul wrote this article for a class with me.  She was shy about sharing it here online, but allowed me to do so if I posted it anonymously.  If you appreciate the message, be sure to leave a comment by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of the post.  The writer will be encouraged to know her words meant something to you.

The Value of Your Name

What’s your name? If you’re anything like the typical human being, you’ve been asked this question so many hundreds of times you’ve lost count. In fact, you’ve been asked this question so many times your response has become automatic. It’s been automatic for a while.

“Hello, what’s your name?”

“I’m ______.”   Fill it in how you’ve been filling it in for your entire life. With your name.

Names are powerful things. I think in our modern culture today, we’ve really lost the magic and meaning that names have. Now don’t get me wrong, plenty of our modern day names still sound great, and they’re great names. But sometimes I wonder if many of the names people have today really mean something. For example, Suzannah means “Lilly of the Valley.” Peter means “Rock.” You get the picture. I wonder if people even know what their name means. If you don’t know already, go ahead right now and look it up.

Now I’m going to ask you a different question. What does your name mean? What does it say about you?

We all have different names for ourselves, depending on the context and situation. I’m sure you have plenty of names. Take a minute. What are you called? What do you go by? What do those names say about you? Names are powerful, so think about it. Think about it.

I have one more question for you. Who are you?

If you answered that question with your name, you’re only sorta getting it.

Before I explain what I mean by that, let me clarify. By all means, your name is part of who you are. Maybe I should italicize a different word there, though. Your name is part of who you are. Certainly, it tells a lot about you. It has a story behind it. It tells about you, and that’s pretty awesome.

But the answer to that question is more than that, because there is one name that we haven’t mentioned yet. And it’s the most important name you could ever, ever have. It was given to you by the One who cared more about you than anyone else who has ever lived. More than you could ever imagine. He gave you a name. He called you Beloved.

Take a moment and look up one more name. Your name. The name the Savior of the world gave you. What does your name mean? Who are you? Take a look at Galatians 4:7 - “So you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”

You are called God’s “dearly loved” (Ephesians 5:1). You are his beloved.

Maybe you’re going through a sort of Identity crisis right now. Maybe you don’t really know how to answer that last question. But I can tell you the one name you can never change. The identity you can never lose. A beloved child of God. Don’t lose hope. Don’t lose your worth. Because if you find your worth and identity in Christ, you have more worth than the brightest diamond in the sky.