Forgiveness

A relevant message for the new year:

Forgiveness is about freedom. Freedom from the bondage that holding a grudge ties you to. It's not about condoning what was done. It's about not letting the wrongdoing hold you back from moving forward, being great, being free.

When you forgive your father for being an alcoholic and neglecting you as a child you are not telling him it was okay what he was doing. You are saying he is no longer the excuse to why you are an alcoholic and beating your child now. You are taking responsibility for your life, your actions. You are freeing yourself from the bondage to your father's ways and your past experiences. Once you forgive you can now move forward. Become better. Be a better person. A better parent to your child. You are free! (example taken from the movie Pay it Forward and Helen Hunt forgiving her mother)

When you forgive a neighbor for stealing from you or spreading rumors behind your back you are not condoning the action. You are not giving him/her the right to do it again. You are freeing yourself from that grudge, that bondage. You are accepting what has already happened, something you have no control over, and are allowing yourself to move forward, to live on. How you respond to events has a greater impact on your life and those around you than the events themselves. We could allow those events we have no control over to bog us down, hold us back or we could forgive and take responsibility of the things we do have control over. Move forward. Live on.

And maybe the beauty of Christ's forgiveness to us is that we can then forgive ourselves. We don't have to hold ourselves in bondage to our old ways. Those old sins don't have to be a part of our lives anymore. We can forgive ourselves and move forward, become better.

Forgiveness is part of God's transformation in us (see post Transformation). When we forgive others and ourselves we are being made perfect in Christ's likeness - we are maturing.

Transformation

I'm not a believer in instant conversion. I'm skeptical of those that hear an emotional sermon and then say they were saved. I think conversion is a process. We are continually being transformed. Continually being "made perfect" - the Bible's word for perfect here is the same as "maturing." In Romans 12:2 it tells us to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." 2 Corinthians 3:18 says "we are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory." I didn't become a Christian overnight. I made a commitment at one point but I've had to renew that commitment and remind myself of my commitment many times. It's kind of like the stages of learning.

Stage 1: Unconscious and Incompetent (you don't know that you don't know)
Stage 2: Conscious and Incompetent (you recognize that you don't know)
Stage 3: Conscious and Competent (you are knowingly doing the right thing)
Stage 4: Unconscious and Competent (you are doing the right thing and don't even realize it)

Before we're "saved" we are at stage 1. At some point we move to stage 2 and realize we are messed up and need to change so we accept Christ and make that commitment. Then in stage 3 we start to do the right things intentionally. We still mess up here and have to catch ourselves but we're trying to do right. The closer we come to being "made perfect" the more we spend in stage 4 where we do the right things without even thinking about it. They are who we are. It's part of us - our character.

Christianity is not something mystical that only happens to special, chosen people. It's a way of life. It's the way we treat others and put others before ourselves. It's seeing other's needs more important than ours. It's caring more about people than possessions. It's about forgiveness. Understanding I'm not perfect either, why should I expect you to be? Your mistakes don't have to negatively effect the way I live. My mistakes don't have to negatively effect the rest of my life. It's about integrity, honesty, character. It's about having the hope of something better than we have now. The hope of maturing - of being made perfect.

See the follow-up to this post titled Transformation revisited.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog! I've never blogged before but I'll tell you why I'm starting now. I'm a thinker and I want to share some thoughts. I'm a learner and I want to learn more. I've grown and I want to grow more. I have four different journals full of thoughts and reflections on Christianity, faith, actions, words and motivations. I committed my life to Jesus Christ in the spring of 2006 and ever since I have continually matured and been challenged in my perspectives of different subjects. Through this blog I hope to share those perspectives and challenge you to think deeper about your life, your actions, your motivations, and your faith. In return I hope those that are older, wiser, or have a different perspective will challenge my thoughts to encourage my growth.

The beauty of writing a blog is those that want to read can and those that don't want to read don't have to. I won't be imposing my ideas on anyone. The second beauty of the blog is you can respond. We form our perspectives from our background and experiences. I am just one person with one background and one set of experiences. I hope you will refute, challenge, question, or agree with my thoughts so that we may combine our perspectives and build on our understanding.

I plan on posting whenever I learn something new that I feel like sharing, but as you probably know life goes in cycles. Sometimes you are in a stage of growth, sometimes you are in a stage of application and sometimes you are just trying to survive. They say the most common post in Christopher Columbus' journals when he was sailing across the Atlantic was, "Today, we sailed on."

I hope you will join me in pondering life's great mysteries :)