To Those Who Are Forgiven Most

I was doing my usual Bible reading this morning and came across the story about when Jesus was invited to eat at a religious leader's home. A woman who was a sinner came in to the house with an alabaster box of ointment, and the Bible says with many tears and using her hair she washed the feet of Jesus and anointed his feet with the contents of the box. The story goes on to say the religious leader said within himself, "If Jesus knew what manner of woman this was, he would not allow this."

Jesus then tells the man a story about two people who owed debts; one large and the other small. Both debtors were forgiven of what they owed, and Jesus asked which one would be the most grateful. The man replied, "I guess the one to whom the largest debt was owed." Jesus congratulated him on the correct answer, then turning to the woman said to her, "Daughter, your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you."

I found something interesting in this story; the woman, when she heard about Jesus being at this man's house for dinner showed up to anoint the feet of Jesus.  Now I don't know about you, but if I'm throwing a dinner party and a stranger shows up, I'm probably not going to let them come in and accost my guests. This makes me wonder, how did the religious leader know she was a sinner, and why then if he knew this did he allow her to come in?

The skeptic in me thinks maybe he knew she was a sinner, because he had been one of the men who was visiting her?  After all, Jesus said there were two debtors in his story. Perhaps the woman was not the one with the greatest sin in the story he was telling? Maybe he was talking about this religious leader? Just a thought.

What this story made me think of, is all of those people out there who are living without Jesus in their lives, and how I treat them. Am I like this religious leader who, knowing people who are in sin, and just stand back looking down piously on them thinking to myself doesn't Jesus know what they do? Do I help them find the truth about who Jesus is, and what he can do for them? Or do I remain silent?

This passage of Scripture has kind of opened a can of worms for me I think. It definitely given me something to think about. I want to be more like Jesus and less like the religious leader in this story, I mean I know I've been forgiven for much, so I need to go and let others know too.

Truth or Fact

What do you do when the Bible says one thing, but the things you are seeing in your life say another?  One is the truth and the other is facts.  Is there a difference between fact and truth?  Absolutely there is.  Facts are what you r senses tell you, what you see, feel, hear, taste and can touch.  While truth is what you know, but cannot explain why it works.

What makes this difficult at times is we live in a world which is dominated by sin and still under the control of the devil; the enemy of all truth.  One of the things which he and his cohorts do is manipulate situations around us to get our view off of the truth and onto facts.

Going to school for so many years, we learned two times ten equals twenty, this is a fact of multiplication. Then we learn in church the truth about giving; how if we give away, we will get more in return.  It doesn’t make sense does it?  If I give the church ten percent of my income, this seems like subtraction, but in God’s Kingdom it is actually multiplication.

The enemy will then use facts on our brains to try and tell us what is real.  I understand facts are real too; when I look at my bank account and see the numbers dwindling, I realize this is a fact and there is no denying it.  But then I see the truth of what the Bible says about how it is God who makes my needs a reality when I give, and I realize regardless of what facts my bank account may be screaming at me, the truth is God has my back and is taking care of my needs.

And on a side note, I have a job, work hard at it and am watching what I’m spending too.  I’m not just out there living it up and blowing all my money.  I’m being a good steward of what God has given me.  I don’t believe for a minute we should go out, buy everything we see and then expect God to swoop in and save the day.  End of rant.

There is a story in the Bible which illustrates my point I think.  You’ve probably read it before; it’s the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  These three Hebrew young men were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and ended up serving as some of his advisors.  It came into the heart of the king to make a giant golden statue, and to hold a big celebration.  All the leaders of his lands were ordered to attend, and when they arrived they were instructed to bow down to the statue as they heard the music playing.  Anyone caught not bowing would be thrown into a fiery furnace to their death.

The time came, all were gathered together and the music sounded.  Everyone bowed down, except the three Hebrew men.  They had decided they could not bow down to an idol if they were truly followers of Jehovah.  Of course they were brought before the king, and given one more chance to bow; which they refused to do.  This made the king so furious he instructed that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than ever before.

What I really love about these three guys is what they told the king.  They said, “The God whom we serve is able to save us from your burning, fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand O king.  But even if He doesn’t, know this, we will not serve your gods or worship your golden statue.”  Talk about courage in the face of death.  Awesome!

Well the king instructed the army to tie them up and throw them in the fiery furnace, which was so hot the men who threw them in died instantly.  The story goes on to say when the king looked in he saw four men walking around in the fire.  He called them out, and when they were examined they were not burned, nor did they even smell like smoke.

When they were standing there waiting to be thrown in the fire, the fact was they were going to die, it was staring them in the face.  The truth however was what they chose to believe in the moments before being thrown into the fire.  This story was given to us as an example of how we are supposed to live our lives.  What is truly amazing about this, is these three men didn’t have the Bible we have today, nor were they born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit.  How much more should we be living like this then if we are born again and have the Holy Spirit?  Just a thought there you know.

Well I’ve encouraged myself this morning to rethink my place in God’s Kingdom, and how I’m doing things in my own life, how about you?  The next time I’ve got facts staring me in the face, I’ll accept them for what they are; facts, but then I’ll put my trust in the truth of God’s Word instead.  For the Kingdom and the King!