Good Morning Friends,
Sometimes there are problems because unqualified people get into places of leadership or because places of leadership have not been filled or people try end runs around leaders. The Greek word translated “set in order” is a medical term that means “to set a broken bone.” The body suffers when we avoid facing and solving serious problems when something is broken. Today’s scripture sets forth some guidelines for leadership in this regard but ultimately it is about the balance of forgiveness and blamelessness and the dynamic can very well get us to misdiagnose the problem. For it is not about having more faith but more forgiveness and dealing with our own grief.
The problem is that we are always looking out for our own self-interest and failing to love.
When reconciliation and restoration have failed, we need to think again. Do You Know Of A Broken System That Needs To Be Set In Order?
Scripture: Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness, in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began— in due time he revealed his word through the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior, To Titus, my loyal child in the faith we share: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. I left you behind in Crete for this reason, so that you should put in order what remained to be done, and should appoint elders in every town, as I directed you: someone who is blameless, married only once, whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery and not rebellious. For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain; but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled. He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.
Titus 1:1-9 (NRSV)
Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Luke 17:1-6
(NRSV)
Message: There is an elephant in the room, and its name is forgiveness. We do not know how to forgive, and we do not want to learn because it requires a humble heart. We would rather distract ourselves. But the need for forgiveness does not go away if we ignore it. Like our grief it is often suppressed. But we must face it every day that we have challenges. And sometimes it requires some emotional archeology and that is a difficult business that takes some time. For this process may result in the unloading of one’s sub consciousness in a dangerous burst of emotionally charged thoughts where the sacred words of our Sabbath rest are overwhelmed. Still, this need not be such a bad thing though I personally prefer we digest our emotions and not always be throwing them up. Dealing with our need for forgiveness is intertwined with forgiving others and obeying God and recognizing our grief. There is no sleight of hand here. Instead, we must accept the limits of life and forgive ourselves as well as others when it comes to sin. For it is our nature to sin and the only saving response is to do something that is not in our nature…to love and be loved. Here we are to learn to love in our own powerlessness. For God is after who we are, not anything else. we are to forgive because God forgave us. We can do that when we take off the old garments of bitterness and anger and replace them with love, compassion, and humility. Our faith grows when we learn and do the things we are supposed to do as Christians committed to transformation. Here humility and service go hand in hand. Trust and obedience go hand in hand. So what Jesus was preaching was not to have more faith but how to use the faith we have with the gifts we have been given. The problem is not more faith but obedience to the obligation of being a servant of Christ and commitment to the transformation of being a Christian in not just words but deeds.
And So, all those things that we thought would give us security are pointless. We are to be who we are and allow God to bring redemption if it is to be. Power, money, acceptance, all those things we thought would bring us comfort and security just do not work. People want more faith to believe but that is not the prescription Jesus offers. The excitement of things to boost our egos is what we typically seek. But humility is what we need. The ego trip of our faith journey must end if we are to dig deeper. You see we are sick and need to be healed. Thankfully the motivations of our unconsciousness if in the Holy Spirit can offset the big con of life. Friends, only divine unity, and love can heal us. Victory is found in finding peace and purpose. We must be born again. We must have our desert experience. We must suffer out anguish at the Olive Press. We must experience an exodus of our primitive emotions and thoughts before we can get closer to the center of life in unity with God. As a child of God, we need the healing of our intentions. We are to come to our senses and our ego is to be replaced with the gifts of wisdom, fortitude, knowledge, piety and yes, love.
Pray we become more virtuous. Pray we become humbler and less judgmental. Pray we realize that unforgiveness gets in the way of our relationship with God. Pray we realize that in order to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness we must extend these same things to others. Pray we realize that our commitment to doing that shows that we have the spirit of Christ living in us. Pray we learn to love. Pray we communicate our love to those who seem unwilling to change. Pray we confess that we have not loved God with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. Pray we are truly sorry and humbly repent. Pray we delight in God’s will, and walk in the ways of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of Jesus Christ. Pray we face up to the fact that we use our lack of faith as an excuse when the real issue is a lack of obedience. Pray we have a faith rooted in Kingdom purposes in us. Pray we are not so proud as not to beg God for what we need.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 
Some good insights here Brother John, but I would encourage you to find the book “Forgive and Forget; Healing the Hurt We Don’t Deserve” by Lewis Smedes. Forgiveness is necessary and can be given in every circumstance, but it cannot always result in a complete restoration… at least, not by us.
In his book, Smedes suggests that forgiveness is a process. First, we have to be able to clearly define the hurt we have experienced… and only those who have been harmed can forgive the one who has done the harm. I dwe cannot clearly define what has been done to us, we cannot fully forgive. Secondly, we have to take responsibility to see to it that the same hurt is not able to be visited upon us again. That person may choose to harm us again and again, but we are responsible for making sure that this same experience never happens twice. It is up to us to make sure of that. And finally, if the other party is open to renewed relationship, we set the parameters of what that relationship will look like. Quite frankly, many persons who have harmed others get insulted when that other says “I forgive you.” In their minds, what happened is what should have happened and they have nothing to be sorry about. If this relationship is to continue, we need to set the boundaries because they won’t.
If you look closely at that passage from Luke, we are commanded to forgive “IF” that person comes to us and confesses that they have done wrong… and in Greek, repent means to change one’s ways. If the other is truly repentant, there will be a willingness to help set the new parameters for that relationship. If not, Smedes says it is up to us to set those parameters, not only to help protect ourselves, but to help the other find it more difficult to do that too us (and others) again.
Smedes warns us that forgiving does not mean forgetting. Unfortunately, God has designed us in such a way that we cannot completely delete the trash file in our brains. Our lives are being taped and stored away, and sometimes, often times in a most inopportune time, the play back button is hit and we relive that pain again. Learning how to truly forgive and let go of our anger will make those times be less and less hurtful even if we can’t stop the replay button from being activated.
In the end, we can forgive, and must do so for our own peace of mind, even if the other chooses not to repent. And that may mean a loss of relationship. Sometimes it may mean forgiving someone who has died and cannot repent. But we need to forgive so that we can stop that movie from playing in our head. We need to forgive so that we can continue to build relationships with others without that fear of being hurt again keeping us from doing so.
May you have a most blessed and holy week my brother.
hesed ve shalom,
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