12 ... forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
I have a friend who reminded me of the fickle quality of our commitments. "I will gladly die for you, but don't ask me to go upstairs and get your sweater."
It's easy to make shallow commitments.
"I'll pray for you".
"We should get together sometime."
"I've never had a friend like you."
"I will love you forever."
At the heart of these not-well-thought-through statements are well-intentioned but shallow reasonings about commitment. Jesus reminded us of that:
Matthew 5:33-37 (ESV)
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’
34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’
34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
I remember listening to a Dallas Willard talk on discipleship and formation of the soul, and at the end a young man asked him, "If you were going to begin to disciple someone where would you begin?" And thoughtfully Dallas responded, "I would teach him to let his 'yes' be a 'yes' and his 'no' be a 'no'. It doesn't seem that profound until you realize that the heart of this all is honesty and straightforwardness in commitment.
This works its way into all sorts of areas of life:
Marriage
Family
Church
Values
and not the least, God.
Someone has said "we live in a throw-away" generation. It's certainly true that people will discard anything that seems to be bothersome to them, and throw it away those things that get in the way of their personal comforts, or desires.
It comes down to trust, and values. The decisions we make about those things above can not be primarily decisions about our personal comforts and desires. They must be decisions made on the basis of values and trust - a willingness to be committed to following through in order to learn all that God has for us in this.
Now, sometimes we have no choice...and those are times when God must be trusted even more...that these things are going to be used for his purposes, if we stay in there.
Years after Corrie ten Boom was freed from the concentration camp she was speaking at a church in Munich, Germany. After things were over she saw this heavy set, balding man approach her. She recognized him almost immediately. While in Ravensbruck he was the guard who leered and laughed at her, the other women, including her sister Betsie who died there, as they walked naked past them to the showers. She saw him not in dressed in his suit, but she saw him dressed in his Nazi uniform. It all came back with sudden emotions. He walked up to her, extending his hand and saying, "Fraulein, how grateful I am for your message...to think, as you say, he has washed my sins away...yes, I was a guard at Ravensbruck but now I have become a Christian. I know God has forgiven me, but I would like to hear it from you, will you forgive me?"
Corrie said her hand was frozen...she could not. Betsie, her sister, had died in Ravensbruck. Her father had died in another prison camp, and it was all too much to erase...she kept her hand by her side.
She thought about what she knew. Forgiveness was not just an emotion, it was a decision. She said it to herself, "Jesus died for this man; am I going to ask for more?" She could not smile, she could not raise her hand. She prayed: "Lord Jesus, forgive me and help me to forgive him." Again, nothing.
She did it again, "Lord Jesus, I cannot forgive him...Give me your forgiveness."
She found herself reaching out to take his hand, and then, suddenly a remarkable thing happened. She said she felt a current running from her shoulder along her arm to her hand and into her heart came a love for the man that overwhelmed her. It was the gift of God's forgiveness...It was his "yes" in the midst of her "no".
Peace
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