Dear PoC Family, I hope you come to church this Sunday. I believe it will prove to be a very important day for us. As you know, weve been following the story of Abraham through our series, IMPERFECT ME. This week we will look at the little known story of how Abrahams nephew Lot gets kidnapped. Yes, kidnapped. Its right in your Bible in Genesis 14. Long story short, Abraham rescues him. Anticlimactic? Not when you look at the whole story, namely, Lots culturally offensive and disrespectful behavior from chapter 13. The fact that Abram made a split-second decision to rescue Lot is further evidence of His close walk with God. Because of the work that God is doing in Abrahams life, Abraham is then enabled to join the Lord in His rescuing and forgiving work. Not only is this instantaneous forgiving action countercultural in Abrahams day, it is countercultural today also. Sadly, our first instinct is rarely forgiveness. When I was in the 3rd grade, I had an art teacher who could do amazing things with her students. This probably wont surprise you, but I was a student who didnt like to learn. It took many years for me to cultivate a love for learning, but in the 3rd grace, I was one who was very impatient with waiting to learn things. I didnt want to learn anything that I didnt already know. So, one day when our teacher handed us white crayons with white paper and asked us to make something beautiful, I immediately declared in my heart that it couldnt be done. Impossible. Why was this crazy lady asking us to do such an impossible task? It made no sense. Well, long story short, after she watched us try and try again to create something from nothing, she finally took the white crayon in her hand, drew some designs on the white paper, and then proceeded to rub a red crayon over her design. Suddenly, the white markings of her beautiful design were seen clearly in her transfer art. Until I chose to learn from her, finding a use for the white crayon was something that only she could do. Abraham forgives Lot because he has first been forgiven. Forgiveness is something that we are only able to do as we learn from Jesus who is the only One who has transferred His blood over all of our sins. In Psalm 51 when King David asks the Lord to cleanse me, it literally means, un-sin me. This is Davids way of acknowledging that he was not able to un-sin himself. Instead, he would have to first be cleansed by, and then receive from, and learn to join the work of the Forgiver. Oh, the things that God can do with a white crayon!! I hope to see you Sunday. Know someone who is struggling with un-forgiveness yet they dont know what to do about it? Invite them to join us. God has so much to teach us. Your Pastors Are Praying For You!! Pastor Todd
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 23:45:22 +0000
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