Another valuable point that Kelly Minter made in the No Other Gods workbook that we studied this summer was the difference between “sacrifice” and “offering.” So often, when we deny self, it is easy to really focus on the sacrifice. There is pain there. Especially if food has been used to medicate in some way. If you are an “emotional eater,” you know what I am talking about. If your emotions rage and you struggle desperately to submit your lure towards food in that emotional hour to God, it HURTS. There is an ache. You FEEL your pain so much more completely than you do when you stuff it down by eating food.
I remember times when my husband would go out of town. It was the end of a long day with the children and I felt SUCH loneliness and exhaustion. It was during those times that I felt my pain most accutely. It was like any and every sad or dark thought would plague me. I would console myself with food–which didn’t really work at all.
Overcoming this behavior has been a huge part of my “Thin Within” journey–actually, my journey to become more Christlike.
Kelly points out in those moments when we choose to take captive our minds, our hearts, our behavior…and to say NO to the flesh, NO to indulging, NO, in this case to eating when we aren’t physically hungry, we tend to think on the sacrifice we are making. The emptiness, the giving up…and we sit there in that pain. Sometimes we don’t sit there long before we change our minds and decide the sacrifice isn’t worth the pain.
Kelly points out that if instead of focusing on the sacrifice, we take all of our pain, our feelings, our aches, our emptiness to God and offer it to Him, make it something we choose to offer to God out of love for Him, that it will change things quite a bit. I have found this to be true. There is a lot to be said about my focus.
Like with my previous blog entry, distinguishing the difference between surrender and trust, there is a definite distinction between sacrifice and offering. The sacrifice is focusing on my lack. The offering is focusing on God and giving something TO Him.
This shift in my thinking, while subtle, has a PROFOUND impact. I hope you find this encouraging too.
This summer, a group of us who live in this area (from a variety of churches) took Beth Moore’s challenge at the Living Proof Ministires blog to be in bible study. We studied the workbook Beth suggested, No Other Gods by Kelly Minter. It was an incredible time.
Some things that Kelly taught have been resonating in my mind throughout the summer and continue to now–we had our last study in this workbook on Tuesday. I want to share a couple of these things here on the blog in the days ahead.
One of the points Kelly made that really struck me is how so often we see “surrender” as a noble, godly goal. And it is. But I also see that surrender can become resignation. Almost a Christian “Eeyore” way of saying, “Well, all right…you are God and I am not.” While there is most definitely truth in this and benefit in accepting that God is God and I am not, resignation seems to focus my attention on what I am giving up, what I am leaving behind. With this focus, comes a deep and painful awareness (sometimes) of the void. There may even be a resentment that comes…ever so subtly.
However, if I move my focus from what I have relinquished to what may be yet ahead, from surrender to TRUST in the Lord, that He IS sufficient, that he will, in essence, provide the ram in the thicket when I lay my Isaac down…then there is, again, a massive change in how I perceive my act of “surrender.” Rather than the despondency and painful void resulting from giving something up, I look ahead at what God will yet do, what he will supply, provide…how he will fill that void and then some. Or like Kelly quoted from Deuteronomy (I think it is)…God brings us OUT of a land of darkness to bring us IN to His land of promise.
When I shift my focus from surrender of what I have clung to in the past to trust in Him for what will be today and tomorrow, I sense a joyful anticipation. I know that my God is faithful. In His time he WILL do something beyond all I can ask or imagine.
Yesterday, I heard a song on KLOVE that I don’t like especially well, but a truth shared in it sort of came home to my heart in a fresh way. The Lord calls us–the church, His people–His “Bride,” His Betrothed, His Beloved. Jesus is the Bridegroom.
I wonder…if I related more often to God as Lover and myself as His Beloved, if it might not revolutionize how I approach food, eating, denial of self, and …well, everything?
In my experience, “parent/child” relationships have not been the most positive. I do, of course, hope that I have offered my children a different experience than my parents offered me. If I relate to God as parent and myself as child, given my earthly experience as a child, it is no small wonder that my willingness or desire to surrender, to trust, to choose what He wants instead of what I want chafes, grates, BUGS me.
I have been blessed with a wonderful husband. I can really identify with the Beloved/Lover relationship. In my relationship with my husband, I am chosen out of all the women in the world, cherished, protected, nurtured, provided for. When my husband desires change for me, I have no question that it is with my best good in mind. It is because he honestly longs for me to experience the best God has in mind for me.
With my parents, I wasn’t safe, I wasn’t cherished or chosen. I was an inconvenience and not accepted. I was an extra expense. When they wanted change for me, it was because I annoyed them or worse. (I know that God used my childhood for my spiritual formation and I can actually thank Him for it now!)
I have voluntarily read books about being a better wife. I have attended seminars and workshops, led and attended bible studies on the subject. I have *wanted* to change. My motivation has been because I have no question of my husband’s love and, as such, I want to be my best for him. I want to honor him, esteem him, understand him, respond to him.
In my role as child, I never read a book, attended a bible study or seminar, or even cared about how to be a better child. I had no motivation…not even fear of my parents could motivate me to truly change. If there appeared to be any changes, they were external only. In fact, I might hold it together for a brief while, but rebellion was brewing beneath the surface, read to explode in an opportune moment.
I know my husband delights in time spent with me. We love going to lunch together on Sunday afternoons, or riding the horses together out on the trail. Even just hanging out together on our back deck enjoying the evening and talking. I respond to this kind of relationship. God knows this.
In His Word, God says that He chose me before the foundation of the earth. In love He predestined me to be adopted–to be chosen. He says I am for the pleasure of His will. In Zephaniah, I am told that he delights and rejoices over me with singing. The psalmist tells me that the King is enthralled with my beauty. He calls me to come away to the wilderness with him.
When I resist God’s call to me to let go of food (when I am not hungry) and to allow Him to be enough, I think I am relating to Him as parent and myself as stubborn, unwanted, unapproved of child. My earthly experience sets this up to be something that isn’t positive. I hold it together for a while…the “changes,” though, are external. Then KABLOOEY! I rebel for all I am worth. Sure, those “Kablooey” moments may not be the all out binges like in the past, but I see them as they are…a direct “IN YOUR FACE” to God…something I might do to my earthly parents, but would NEVER feel in my relationship with my husband.
I wonder…might I experience something new in my relationship with the Lord and what He wants to do in my life if I stopped feeling like the child all the time and started relating to Him as Lover? Some might be horribly offended at this thought…saying God IS Your Father. Yes, He is. But I wonder…perhaps I must extend grace to myself. Is it possible that one of the reasons God gives us so many names for Himself or so many characterizations for Him is because He knows that our human experience is bound to blemish any one of them at any given time? He even characterizes himself as a mother nursing her baby…something I can only identify with in the most wonderful way. And as a bird gathering her young beneath her wings…and as a shepherd gently leading the sheep who have young lambs tagging along. Perhaps the Lord, who is ALL of these things, intends that I might adjust my perspective so that I can truly rest in knowing, serving, living in Him in whatever characterization(s) that most speak truth to my heart.
For now, I delight that He has given me a wonderful husband who God has used to bring home to me that God relates to me as His Betrothed, His Beloved…I get that. I follow it. I love it.
Today, when I reached for something when I wasn’t hungry, I heard the familiar self-rebuking “You shouldn’t have that.” It was the child hearing the voice of the parent…which caused me to instantly get my dander up. Fortunately, I was able to take these truths home to my heart that God caused me to write in my journal this morning. I chose to change how I viewed God in that moment…from unapproving (which he isn’t, of course) parent, to loving, passionate, caring Lover. When I thought of my Lover, my Bridegroom, asking me to let HIM satisfy what really was lacking instead of turning to food in that moment, I was able to respond with an open heart and open arms… “Absolutely, Lord. I am yours. Your will be done.”
Just moments ago, I was digging through my hard drive trying to find space for my DisneyWorld videos and photos. I found the following entry from an online journal at a friend’s website. I wrote it five and a half years ago. I wonder if anyone can relate to this? I know I can right now:
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December 20, 2002
Gosh, I hope that those of us who have been battling discouragement don’t quit. I have been in this place. I seem to live in it, in fact.
Recently, however, God is bringing home a new truth to my heart. My life on earth is not about my life on earth. Does that make sense? It is about closeness with the Lord. I am learning that God wants MORE THAN ANYTHING for me to press in to HIM. To cling to Him. To know Him.
Sometimes, I have valued the blessings of THIS life more than I have the value of knowing HIM. So, when (if) I behave myself, I seem to expect him to do his part.
But…I don’t think he will–or he doesn’t *have* to. He is an untamed God–unpredictable. Yes, he is loving and wonderful and compassionate and all the things the bible says, but I can’t make him (compel him to) do things in my life that I want. When I expect that and he doesn’t, I get disappointed, angry, mad and even begin to take on a different view of his character.
So, I let go of my assumption that if I let go of food I will someday be svelte. You know what? I think that has been an idol for me. Even being healthy…that goal has been an idol for me.
I want to know Jesus and him crucified…I want to know the power of sharing in his sufferings. I want to count ALL things as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Him.
I have finally realized that my battle with food, my body, self image and on and on are not about my finally “getting it.” They are about my knowing Christ. I would never have sought him so much if not for this struggle, but because I think he isn’t doing his part (making me lose weight since I am jumping through the right hoops, for instance) I have allowed that to distort my view of His character. No more. Now I will let go of my insistence that I control what HE does by my “obedience” or my behavior.
Instead, I will trust that He is God. He is good. Knowing HIM will satisfy that emptiness…not just now but for eternity. It doesn’t mean I won’t continue to try to eat less, but my goal will be to know Him. To lean into Him, rather than to live a certain way so God will bless my efforts. I don’t believe that is biblical. I have been in error. I find that as I recognize this, confess it, and look to God to reform my life perspective, the pressure IS off.
I have been singing with a CD about Him being more than enough…yet until a few days ago, I was so mad at Him that I couldn’t imagine finding Him satisfying ever again… Letting go of the thought that “If I do this and this and this then God will do this and this and this…” really has taken the pressure off. It has freed me up to see HIM. To draw nearer to Him and in that place I have been finding he IS truly satisfying.
My compulsion for reaching for food has diminished. Now I LOVE him again. When the compulsion rears its head I want to cling to HIM. I want to KNOW Him more than I want the taste of a favorite food in my mouth.
– *Repentant Rebel ~ (working on it in Christ…) Phil 4:13
(* Repentant Rebel was my screen name during that season…)
Hi, everyone. My 14 year old daughter and I have been in Orlando, Florida with a dear friend and her daughter. We got here last Sunday and will arrive home in California tonight. We have had an absolute blast!!! Pictures and video to come. I actually volunteered during the Indiana Jones show to be “an extra!” I got to be a citizen of Cairo! SUCH FUN and definitely not something I would have done a couple of years ago.
The most challenging thing about *that* experience was the person taking volunteers had each one of us state our name, where we are from and then she asked us to imitate a specific Disney character. I have a real “issue” with Minnie Mouse–can’t stand her. LOL!!! Of course, she asked me to giggle like Minnie! I about died since my friend, her daughter, and my daughter all knew that I do NOT like Minnie Mouse! So, in front of 100s of my “closest friends” I actually GIGGLED like Minnie Mouse. Good grief! Ok…that was DEFINITELY out of my comfort zone! LOL! I could just picture my friend cracking up about that one.
My friend is someone who I “met” online about eight years ago in a yahoo group. We developed our friendship as God led us together (she lives in Tulsa) to process the material–of all things–in the Thin Again book. The book encourages us to get assistance in “unwrapping graveclothes” and Jan was the one that God chose to assist me with that process. We have been dear friends ever since and occasionally get to go cool places together. This was the first time that we have done something THIS big and WONDERFUL with our daughters, though!
God is good. This trip has testified to that. My eating has not been stellar, admittedly. I got swept up by my own vulnerability due to being so tired (poor baby–I played TOO hard this week! :-)) but I am back on track today.
We have a seven hour flight ahead of us–no connection. So, we are packing provisions for the trip–you know, those wonderful TEASER foods. EEK! I will be MUCH in need of some serious PROTEIN when we land tonight in Sacramento!
“Talk” to you all later this weekend (if I don’t catch up on sleep instead!)!
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.
She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors
and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
When she heard about Jesus,
she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
Immediately her bleeding stopped
and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.
He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered,
“and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ “ But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.
Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her,
came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear,
told him the whole truth.
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.
Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
– Mark 5:25-34
“God’s way is the way of faith and freedom. When we bring our struggles with food, eating, and weight to him in honest surrender, we can be restored. For this to happen we must allow God to lead us to a place where we are:
Free to risk–letting go of the past in order to live unencumbered in the present (1 Peter 5:6,7)
Free to change–being transformed from the inside out by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2)
Free to trust–trusting God and the way he made us (1 Cor. 6:19)
Free to love–loving as Christ loves us (John 13:34)
As we act in faith and surrender to this kind of freedom, we will experience a new relationship with God, with ourselves, and with our bodies.”
——— This idea of being free to risk has really hit me afresh. We talked about this in our Thin Within online support group chat the other night. If we give our coping mechanisms–if we dare to reach for the hem of Jesus’ robe even while we lay hemorraging in the dust–what if he doesn’t choose to heal? What if he doesn’t choose to change me?
The hemorraging woman in Mark 5 believed that just a touch of Jesus’ robe was all she needed. In that act of faith, I wonder if she got more than what she bargained for–God’s power surged through her in a burst of healing. She had risked everything she had left–all her hope, all her dignity (if she had any left)–to weave through the crowd even though the culture had declared her “unclean” for years. She had tried everything else–and had always come up with dashed hopes. She had to be free to risk…this time the last of her hope as well as everything else. With the last bit of daring she could muster she lurched for the hem of his robe–even through the crowd of people, all who hoped to get closer to him…
As she risked it all, dared to put “all her eggs in this basket,” she experienced transformation. But in order to do that, she had to be willing to risk losing it all…again.
When we come to the Lord with our disordered eating, and choose to change the way we cope with anger, with frustration, and with all our other emotions…when we willingly surrender the way we have turned to food in order to cope, we take a huge risk. How will we cope now?
We begin to see the truth–the truth that sets us free–that our issues with food, eating, weight aren’t about food–not really. It is about something so much deeper and thus, it has the power to hurt so much more profoundly. What IF I hope and am disappointed? What if I am left…hungry…I mean with my soul hungering yet?
IS it worth the risk?
I wonder…had the bleeding woman not been healed if she would have regreted the act of lungeing for Jesus’ robe. I wonder if, in spite of disappointment, there would have been something in her that would have rested in resolution. Somehow, I don’t think she would have regreted taking the risk, even if things had turned out differently.
But things didn’t turn out differently. She was healed.
Am I willing to let go of the past in order to live unencumbered in the present? That means letting go of the way food has comforted me, been a companion for me, numbed me to anger and pain…been the focus of my Saturday nights and celebrations. Am I willing to let go of all the “been there done thats” that have come before and believe that God is even now doing a new thing? Am I willing to risk?
Are you?
I challenge you to journal a prayer about your willingness (or lack of). Ask God to meet you where you are just as he met the bleeding woman.
NOTE: I am leaving for DisneyWorld early tomorrow morning. My daughter and I are meeting up with my dear friend, Jan, and her daughter for 5 days in the happiest place on earth! If I don’t have a chance to blog while I am gone, I will see you when I return!
Judy Halliday asked me something a month or two ago that has stuck with me. I guess it has been “fermenting” in my mind and heart.
She knows that the book Thin Again was used powerfully in my life. It is a book (for those of you who don’t know about it) that was released first in 1995 with the title Silent Hunger. Then, it was published a couple of times (same book) as Thin Again. Most recently, it has been published with yet another title: Get Thin Stay Thin.
I haven’t been crazy about the newest title, liking the first title the most. But there is something that has been resonating in me with this latest title…even if I don’t like the title. I think it is the fact that…well, ok, I have gotten thin. But will I stay thin? The title is sort of speaking an answer to that. It sounds weird to say that…
So anyhow…Judy knows that years ago, I was passionate about how this book NEEDS a workbook to help people work through it and to discuss it in a small group setting. At the time we were working on the writing of the Thin Within book, it just wasn’t God’s time, though. Since then, I have brought it up a couple of times as well. It still hasn’t been time.
You can imagine my surprise when Judy mentioned it to me. I still am uncertain that we will move forward with the idea now, but the timing of it intrigues me. Right now, when I am most in need of revisiting some of the deeper issues behind my dysfunctional relationship with food, it does seem intriguing that it might be time now to launch into a writing project…the one I have had a passion for in the past.
Over a year ago, I even tried to reread the Thin Again book. I couldn’t get into it.
Today, I picked it up again. (Thus, the title of this blog entry: Thin Again? Again? LOL!)
Each word is resonating with me just like it did so many years ago. I hope to process some of it here on the blog…and as I do, perhaps some of the ideas for the workbook that we will be working on writing will surface.
If you have the book Silent Hunger, Thin Again, or Get Thin Stay Thin (again, these are all the same book with different titles), PLEASE consider participating in this by posting comments at the end of the blog entries. I would LOVE to get feedback from others and see how God uses our exchange to show me what HE wants in a possible workbook.
Just to whet your appetite, here is from the Introduction…
“Hunger is a universal experience. Television, newspapers, and magazines bring wide-eyed and sunken-cheeked faces from around the world into our homes and our hearts, and we are grieved. yet even those of us fortunate enough to have an abundance of food are hungry. We sit down three times a day to tables laden with food, but our deepest hunger is not satisfied.
“Each of us has a hunger deep within where no one can see. And although it may not be obvious, this hunger is the most universal of all. It is the silent hunger of the starving soul. It is silent because we don’t recognize it or have words to describe it; silent because it has been muted with years of behavior designed to still its voice; silent because the noise of our world prevents it from being heard.
“But this hunger cannot be completely silenced. It cries out to be heard. It is our compelling desire to be loved, protected, and considered precious. It is a God-given hunger for genuine intimacy wherein our deepest needs for security and significance can be substantially met.”
(Get Thin Stay Thin page 11)
—-
I hope you see what I mean. If you don’t have this book you can get it for less than $7.00 in its latest incarnation. 🙂
Gratitude–expressing it–is so life-changing…not just in the long haul, but giving gratitude to God, sometimes even just with an act of my will–can even change my (and ME) NOW!!!
So, given I have been finding myself in an ever descending spiral of frustration this week, I know that expressing gratitude is the way OUT of the pit!
Psalm 22:3 says (KJV): But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
For those of you who, like me, can’t believe that the verse doesn’t actually SAY: “God inhabits the praises of His people,” after hearing it quoted that way for years, I looked up the word from KJV translated “inhabitest” and “enthroned” in other more modern translations.
The Strong’s exhuaustive concordance says this word “inhabitest” means the following:
to dwell, remain, sit, abide 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to sit, sit down 1a2) to be set 1a3) to remain, stay 1a4) to dwell, have one’s abode 1b) (Niphal) to be inhabited 1c) (Piel) to set, place 1d) (Hiphil) 1d1) to cause to sit 1d2) to cause to abide, set 1d3) to cause to dwell 1d4) to cause (cities) to be inhabited 1d5) to marry (give an dwelling to) 1e) (Hophal) 1e1) to be inhabited 1e2) to make to dwell
I have put my objections aside! 🙂
GOD DWELLS in the praises of His people. He remains, he stays, he sits down in…my praises! WHOO HOO! It works for me!
God chooses to live in, dwell amidst, show up in praises of His people.
That is pretty awesome.
So, it stands to reason, that if I am in a pit of discouragement, defeat, loneliness, lies, disobedience, shame, despair, pity…whatever my PIT walls may be made of…well, if I start praising God anyhow, giving gratitude to Him for anything and everything I can think of (no matter how trivial)…then HE MOVES IN. I have this feeling that if he moves in to my praises, it won’t be long that, as my praises lift him up and exalt him, that I will float on up out of my pit with it all! Sounds good to me!
So, I am heading over to my gratitude blog to add some more things (some may be reruns) that I am giving God praise, thanks, and gratitude for. If you want, you can use the comments and join me in giving thanks, adoration, gratitude, and praise to God. Nothing is too small…nothing too trivial.
In faith, I know that this changes me in the long haul, but it also changes me NOW. Focusing not on what I am disgruntled about (a lengthy list, it seems), but on HIM and all HE does…
I share the following with the permission of a dear friend of mine. She told me this story in email and I thought it too perfect an illustration NOT to share with you. I hope it encourages you!
My 10 year old son, Zach came up to me tonight all solemn. He said, “I have to tell you something. I was playing in the big dumpster across the road today.. I just thought I should be honest and tell you the truth.” (It had never occurred to me to forbid him playing in it, since I couldn’t have imagined why anyone would even WANT to, lol.)
Anyway, my heart just swelled in love for him. I hugged him and thanked him for telling me, and said that it is true that he shouldn’t be playing in it…broken glass, or snakes or all kinds of dangers lurked in there. But that I appreciated his honesty and told him he was a good boy…
The point is, that simple confession came from a boy who was not afraid of me, he felt the “sin” and didn’t want there to be broken fellowship…even though I wasn’t aware of any break…awareness of wrongdoing made him feel bad, and he did what he needed to remove the burden and not “hold out on me.”
That was such a picture of the real nature of confession. How many times have I been playing in a dumpster? Finding delight in rubbish, unaware of the hidden dangers lurking beneath my grimy treasures. God isn’t waiting to pounce when we realize that playing in our dumpster would displease Him…and if we confess, He even joyfully receives us, and our confession, as a precious gift. It is a great intimacy booster. It shows love and trust on the part of the child, a desire to be right and to please the Father who has shown Himself trustworthy and kind.
And if God feels anything like I felt, the love is even greater in those moments, because you come closer in intimacy. My son completely bypassed the need for “punishment”…his confession showed his heart was tender to me, and desired to be obedient to the spirit of my desires…even beyond the “law” that I might have laid down for him. He wanted to keep the channels of trust open between us. And that is what I desire to do with God…keep those channels open, the relationship secure in its intimacy. And to stay out of those trash dumpsters!
There is a play on words going on in the title of this post. “God doesn’t count.”
I don’t mean “God doesn’t matter,” because of course He does! He is EVERYTHING that matters!
What I DO mean is, He doesn’t count! He doesn’t say “1, 2, 3, 4….” and so on.
–> GOD DOESN’T COUNT YOUR SIN(s) Do you believe that?
Or do you think “I have stuffed my face again. I keep doing the ‘sin repent sin’ cycle thing…and I know God has had it with me…It is only a matter of time before he says ‘That’s it. NO MORE. I am THROUGH with you!’ “
If you are convinced that you can out-SIN God’s love, kindness (which leads us to repentance), then ask Him to help you believe Psalm 32:2 a which says:
Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him…
You see? God doesn’t COUNT.
He can out-love, out-forgive, out-kindness anything you can possibly throw at him.
He doesn’t stand up in heaven with a tablet, making a list and checking it twice to see if you have been naughty or nice…and…suddenly, do a second take…
….Oh no!! Horrors of HORRORS!
………”No! That sin, right there…that ONE sin…is ONE too many! No more forgiveness, no more pardon! No more kindness, no more long suffering! I count ONE TOO MANY SINS against Lisa…against Lou…against… ________ .” (Insert your own name there…)
Further on in Psalm 32, we read:
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD “
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
David knew what it was like to struggle with starting a day with good intentions…to begin again, and again, and again…only to cave in to temptation. Instead of hiding from God, he tell us acknowledging his sin, confessing them…well, it didn’t end badly. God wasn’t counting his sin.
Instead, God forgave.
He keeps forgiving.
Jesus paid an exhorbitant price so that forgiveness could be constantly, freely extended to you…no matter how *many* your sins. If we insist on believing that God “has had it” with us…then we are sucking the life right out of the cross of Christ. We are saying that the death Jesus died has its limits…that it isn’t sufficient.
Do we *really* want to say that?
Let’s believe! God doesn’t count. When we begin again, we really do begin again…fresh start, clean slate…
1 John says God is love and 1 Corinthians 13 says that love keeps no record of wrongs done. So, I have to figure…then God doesn’t keep a record of wrongs.
No, God doesn’t count.
(If you wonder if this blog entry is peddling “cheap grace,” I want to re-state that Jesus paid with his life…There is nothing about grace that is “cheap.” We are challenged not to go on sinning intentionally, willfully so that grace may increase…however the bible also tells us that if we claim we are without sin we lie and God is not in us…So, I receive David’s admonishment in Psalm 32. I seek hard after God and when I DO sin, I confess it and stand cleansed…forgiven…my sin is not counted against me…all because of the high price paid for me to have this privilege. I don’t trivialize it…I bow in reverence and submission…and welcome every possible benefit that has come to me through the extreme sacrifice Jesus offers me…)
