The Grace-Filled Life. Maxie Dunnam
who gives the gift in the first place? Was Paul thinking of this when he appealed to the Romans "by the mercies of God" that Christians present themselves as living sacrifices? The image is prominent in the biblical message because it leads us to the Cross, the heart of God's redemptive plan. God provides a substitute for Isaac, but there is no substitute for God's Isaac, his "only begotten Son," Jesus. Jesus knows the Cross is inevitable, and he describes the meaning of discipleship by reference to the cross. "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me" (Matt. 16:24).
With these reflections, the words of the playwright probe to the depth of our being: "I meant for you to love me, but you were only curious."
YOUR SECURITY SYSTEM REVEALED
Some areas of telling concern will not let us escape honest examination. Begin at a very simple level—the daily routine interests of our lives. The things in which persons are daily interested tell the story of their commitment.
The daily routine interests of our life are pretty revealing about our Christian faith and commitment. The priority of those interests is revealed in the way we spend our money. What are the first checks we write each month? Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Luke 12:34). Think about this: each year we Americans spend $7 billion on tobacco, $9 billion on alcoholic drinks, and $11 billion on vacations, while we spend only $4.5 billion on religion and welfare combined. In a recent year in the United States, we spent $55 million on migrant birds, while we spent $40 million on ministry to migrant farmers. We spent $3 billion on house plants during a year when we spent only $1.7 billion on poverty issues. It's a revealing exercise—just to look at the checks we write.
NOT MY WILL, BUT YOURS, LORD
Probe a bit deeper now. What of our efforts at spiritual maturity? Paul talked about this in different ways. "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. . . . Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds." That was his word to the Romans (12:1-2). He urged the Galatians to "grow up in Christ." It was the same longing that he had for the Christians in Ephesus—that they arrive at real "maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ" (4:13). Is that a conscious part of our life, a deep desire and a commensurate, deliberate discipline to become a whole person spiritually?
Do you know the story of Frank Laubach? He was known as the apostle to the illiterates and was responsible, through his "each one, teach one" program, for the literacy of millions of people. Developing the inner resources of his life, connected with his burning concern to minister to the world's disinherited, made him sensitive to his needs for an intimate relationship with God. Here is a letter that he wrote very early in his quest for wholeness:
I climbed Signal Hill today in back of my house—talking and listening to God— all the way up, all the way back, all the lovely half hour spent on the top. A few months ago I was trying to write a chapter on the discovering of God. Now that I have discovered him, I find that it is a continuous discovery, and every day is rich with new aspects of him and his working. If I throw these mind-windows apart and say, God, what shall we think of now? He always answered in a beautiful tender way, and I know that God is love hungry because he is constantly pointing me to some dull dead soul which he has never reached, and wistfully urges me to help him reach that stolid, tight shut mind. (Letters by a Modern Mystic [Westwood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, 1958], pp. 27-28)
Wholeness comes only through an intentional, intimate, ongoing communion with the living Christ. The one thing that can save us from insignifi-cance is giving ourselves to a cause that is greater than ourselves. Did you ever ask yourself the question, "What does this world, what does the Lord, want of me?" Have you any good reason for going on breathing the air of this world and eating its food and taking up its space?
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
What area of your life might suggest that your Christian faith and commitment is more curiosity than consecration? What changes are you willing to make? In what areas of your daily life do you need to trust God more?
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WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN
GENESIS 27:30-40; MATTHEW 18:21-35
In the musical My Fair Lady, Professor Henry Higgins, whose heart is being torn apart by Eliza Doolittle, tries to convince himself that he is a forgiving man, in spite of the fact that he finds it almost impossible to forgive Eliza. Like most of us, he can't stick to that understanding of himself as "a most forgiving man," or it doesn't come through with conviction. His temper gets the best of him and he adds an addendum:
But I will never take her back, if she were crawling on her knees! . . .
I will slam the door and let the hell cat freeze.
MOST FORGIVING OR MOST FORGIVEN
We know the tension, don't we? The tension between applauding forgiveness in general but refusing to offer forgiveness in specific. Jesus presents our experience in a parable, a drama really, in which we are participants. He told the story in response to Peter's questions, "How often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times" (Matt. 18:21-22).
But that wasn't enough for Jesus; he had to make it personal and plain. So he adds a parable. The drama unfolds rapidly, keeping us on the edge of our seats. Our feelings are stirred and change erratically as the drama unfolds. We feel sympathy for the man who owed such a burdensome debt. The king angers us at once because he is going to exact every ounce of life from the debtor. Then abruptly the king becomes a hero, not a villain. We are flabbergasted by his compassion and the extent of his mercy as he forgives the debtor. The forgiven debtor encounters a man who owes him just a pittance and has him thrown into jail, and anger boils over again. Our boiling anger subsides and we breathe a sigh of satisfaction when the king brings the unforgiving debtor back to judgment and delivers him to be tormented until his huge debt is paid.
There is a call here; a call to get on the stage and into the drama. This is the very stuff of life because forgiveness—forgiving and being forgiven—is at the very center of life.
The story of Jacob and Esau (Gen. 27–33) is one of the most poignant biblical witnesses to this. Esau, the elder brother, had all rights to the blessing of their father, Isaac. But Jacob stole that blessing. Jacob had to flee for his life from the natural wrath of Esau. For years Jacob was an alien, removed from his family and his homeland. Finally, he got the courage to run the risk and, with his entire household, returned to the Promised Land. It is one of most inspiring stories in the Old Testament. Forgiveness pierces through the pain and darkness of estrangement. When Esau saw Jacob coming, he "ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept" (Gen. 33:4). A forgiving brother restores life to Jacob and the family.
The theme runs throughout Scripture. The core lesson of the parable is a truth we are lax in reckoning with: God's forgiveness of us is determined by our forgiveness of others. Jesus even included that lesson in the prayer he taught us: "Forgive us . . . as we forgive others."
A TOUCHY TRUTH
This is a touchy truth, not easy to keep clear. Look closely at the parable. No sooner had the servant been forgiven his unpayable debt than he found someone indebted to him. He had been forgiven 10,000 denarii; this man owed him only 100 denarii, yet he had him thrown into jail. No wonder the king was angry and reacted so quickly, having the unforgiving man incarcerated as well. Jesus closed the parable with the words, "So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart" (Matt. 18:35).
Register this truth quickly. The Bible does not teach of a God who refuses or revokes pardon. God's love is neither conditional nor capricious. So how do we harmonize the truth of this parable with this truth about God's character? Only as we forgive others can God's forgiveness become real. God forgives, but our capacity to receive and retain that forgiveness as a redemptive power in our lives is dependent on our forgiving others. We can't