Happy Ash Wednesday! This post is going to be extremely short as my kids and myself have been battling the flu the past couple of days. So I thought I'd try out the SOAP method!
Scripture: Mark 11:25-26
25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”Observation:
Our relational standing with others can impact our relational standing with God.
Application:
We are not above God in how we deal with our relationships. God has every right to hold a grudge or punish us or with-hold His love. But He doesn't. He is the perfect example and, I believe, as an incentive He commands us to forgive or we will not be forgiven by Him. Who do we think we are if we with-hold mercy and forgiveness if we ourselves have not had it with-held? As they say, the ground at the foot of the cross is even, we are all the same. We are all equal in the sight of God, therefore we do not have any right to hold something against another.
Also, could it be a sin to not forgive someone? Is that why God will not forgive us? What do you think?
Prayer:
Heavenly Father it's hard to forgive someone when they've hurt us, or hurt someone we love. But You command it. Give us strength to do what you ask of us. Help us to be more like You and to see others as You see us. Thank You Father God for Your forgiveness. You are good to us. Amen.
(Please forgive this extremely short and incoherent post. It's hard to think on a muddled brain!)
Tomorrow's passage: Numbers 1-2, Mark 12:1-27
6 comments:
Great post, Kathryn! I really hope your family is on the mend!!
One thing that really bugged me again about this passage is in the "Redeeming" section where, once again, different values are given to males and females of the same age. Must do a bit more looking into that!
I guess, if we're talking pure, physiological value, a male slave, simply because of his build, would be capable of heavier, longer, more intense labour however they were serving, but I dunno... it still doesn't sit well! Especially since, in so many other passages, equal value between men and women is stressed, particularly during Jesus' time on earth. This seems so contradictory again.
Thanks Kathryn. I'm surprised you were able to post at all - praying for quick healing for you and your family.
I definitely think it's a sin not to forgive others. Jesus commanded us to do it. So if we don't, we're sinning. Obviously, this is something we can only do because of Him and through His power.
Tammi - could it simply be that they valued the type of work men did more than the type of work women did, that it was more a reflection on the value of the labour, than the value of the person?
I agree though, it is bothersome to me too. But I know that we need to do just what the woman Jesus played "legal advocate" with did (the dogs eating the crubms) - we need to filter our reading of this passage through what we already know of God to be true. We know He values male and female equally - so we know this cannot be a statement about our intrinsic worth.
Thanks, Kathryn, those verses jumped out at me as well. I agree with Tammy that it is sin not to forgive. It's made clear in the parable of the servant who owed money to his master that he couldn't pay and his debt was forgiven, but that same servant then had another man imprisoned for being unable to pay a debt owed to him. It didn't turn out so well for him when his master found out what he'd done!
Tammy, I think that's possible, except this is God assigning the value, not the people. I could see how the people would value the work of a man over the work of a woman, but I'm not sure God would assign value the same way. I'll have to do some digging.
I found these posts....
http://jonalynfincher.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-god-playing-favorites-leviticus-271_30.html
http://jonalynfincher.blogspot.com/2008/02/is-god-playing-favorites-leviticus-271.html
I believe that the difference is in the kind of work and the value of that work that makes men a greater amount. It's funny that that didn't actually stand out for me as I read today.
What did was this:
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
I perusing some blogs from my cousin's blog page and found a post from a woman who is trying to conceive and her faith in God has been shaken to the core by her lack of children. It's hard to read verses like this and struggle through really hard things, like infertility, illness, or divorce, and wonder if you just don't have enough faith.
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