These conversations are sometime hard to have and we would love to hear how you would handle them. Let’s discuss!
Christian Small Groups-What’s Working, What’s Not Working?
Are you a member or leader of a Christian community small group? If so, we want to hear from you. What’s working…and what’s not working in your small groups?
PS- We have been working on a new small-groups model that aims to catapult the Christian’s maturity/transformation journey, avoid the rut of just “doing another study”, strengthening the relationships within your group, and positively impacting your community too. If you are interested in helping us pilot this new small group concept, contact us…and we will provide everything you need.
Impact of Unforgiveness
Q: If someone has wronged you and it takes you a very long time to forgive them (like maybe several years), is there any irreperable harm done to the relationship? I mean, can't God redeem anything ... so there would always be the hope that the relationship can return to normal once the forgiveness is finally offered?
A: This sounds like a question being asked by someone with a guilty conscience! The answer is that of course God can redeem anything. However, God doesn't typically override the natural consequences of our own poor choices. Withholding forgiveness is a sin. Like other sin, it has consequences which can sometimes be quite devastating. Those consequences might be a relationship that is so injured that it cannot recover. Unless there is a deeply repentant heart (on the part of the one offering the forgiveness) I wouldn't expect God to redeem anything.
Let's say a family dispute goes on between siblings for maybe 20 years. Then the sibling withholding the forgiveness decides to call a truce and suddenly starts speaking again. Can the relationship be restored back to what it was before? I doubt it. In this example, you've got 20 years of bitterness held against someone. This injures the heart of the one to be forgiven. And it may injure that heart to the point that they no longer care about restoring the relationship. They no longer believe that they are loved.
It's been said that actions speak louder than words. This is especially true in the case of long withheld forgiveness. If you've acted in an unforgiving way for 20 years, you cannot expect a few words of reconciliation to cancel out all those actions. Nor can you blame God for the mess you created by withholding the forgiveness all those years.
What Does God Expect of You?
I’ve been reading “The Hole in Our Gospel”, by Richard Stearns – President of World Vision. He asks a convicting question in his book about the apathy Christians often show to the poor, hungry, and homeless in our world: What does God expect of us? What do you think? What does your Bible say?
Godless Japanese?
Q: I heard a guy on the radio this week talking about how Japan "is a godless nation" and the latest earthquake and tsunami are punishments from God. How would you respond to someone who has such beliefs? Doesn't God love everyone?
A: Mmmm ... I'm not sure I would say that God loves everyone. God is willing to love everyone. God desires to love everyone. And I believe God is grieved that not everyone meets the criteria for His love. But the Bible does indicate that God's love is reserved for God's people ... and we each have the choice of being one of those people.
I also don't know if it's true that Japan "is a godless nation." What is true is that traditionally they have not shared the values of Christian nations. For example, in war they have been savage invaders and conquerors, inflicting horrendous atrocities on their victims. It's been only since the United States dropped atomic bombs on them that they stopped behaving so badly on the world scene. If the U.S. hadn't done that, it's likely that they would be a ruthless regime terrorizing the world today. Like I said, they have traditionally not shared the values of the western Christian people groups.
But does that mean that all Japanese people are godless? No, I don't think so. In fact, there are Christian churches in Japan. There are Christian missionaries working in Japan. Look, I don't know if God is trying to punish Japan with these calamities or not. The fact is, nobody knows such things. If I were the Japanese people though, I would be asking myself if God would have any reason to punish the entire nation.
I heard recently that less than 1% of the Japanese population is Christian - and that most Japanese don't claim any religion at all. So it is fertile ground for evangelism. As Jesus said, "the harvest is many, but the workers are few." So rather than try to decide whether or not the Japanese people might somehow deserve the calamities they're experiencing --- I believe it would be more Christlike to wade into their misery and despair and show them the love of Christ.
Knowing God's nature and character the way I do, it's entirely possible that God will use these calamities to help bring more Japanese people to Christ. We should all be at least praying for them and asking God to use this time to reveal Himself to the Japanese people. Let us all pray that God will be glorified in the end through these calamities.
A: Mmmm ... I'm not sure I would say that God loves everyone. God is willing to love everyone. God desires to love everyone. And I believe God is grieved that not everyone meets the criteria for His love. But the Bible does indicate that God's love is reserved for God's people ... and we each have the choice of being one of those people.
I also don't know if it's true that Japan "is a godless nation." What is true is that traditionally they have not shared the values of Christian nations. For example, in war they have been savage invaders and conquerors, inflicting horrendous atrocities on their victims. It's been only since the United States dropped atomic bombs on them that they stopped behaving so badly on the world scene. If the U.S. hadn't done that, it's likely that they would be a ruthless regime terrorizing the world today. Like I said, they have traditionally not shared the values of the western Christian people groups.
But does that mean that all Japanese people are godless? No, I don't think so. In fact, there are Christian churches in Japan. There are Christian missionaries working in Japan. Look, I don't know if God is trying to punish Japan with these calamities or not. The fact is, nobody knows such things. If I were the Japanese people though, I would be asking myself if God would have any reason to punish the entire nation.
I heard recently that less than 1% of the Japanese population is Christian - and that most Japanese don't claim any religion at all. So it is fertile ground for evangelism. As Jesus said, "the harvest is many, but the workers are few." So rather than try to decide whether or not the Japanese people might somehow deserve the calamities they're experiencing --- I believe it would be more Christlike to wade into their misery and despair and show them the love of Christ.
Knowing God's nature and character the way I do, it's entirely possible that God will use these calamities to help bring more Japanese people to Christ. We should all be at least praying for them and asking God to use this time to reveal Himself to the Japanese people. Let us all pray that God will be glorified in the end through these calamities.
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