S.M. Wibberley’s Blog

The Apostle Peter was a man on threes. He denied Jesus three times, and Jesus restored him by asking him three times, “Do you love me?”

And following Jesus’ example, in 2 Peter 12-15, the Apostle gives us a triple reminder: “So I will always REMIND you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to REFRESH YOUR MEMORY as long as I live in the tent of this body…And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to REMEMBER these things.

In our culture, repetition is not a valued thing—we hear it once and that’s enough. But biblically, repetition is highly valued and important—both because there are always new things to learn from Scripture, and because we all need ongoing reminders of Truth. For example, I have to remind myself to not complain (a very natural thing for me) but to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving (a supernatural thing to do.

In following Peter’s example, every morning my wife and I pray on the armor of Ephesians 6:10-18, and it is always a good reminder of the battle we are about to enter. It’s like “tuning up” our thinking, preparing us for what may come.

So don’t shy away from repetition of truth, in fact aggressively employ it so that Truth can sink deeply into your soul and then come out in biblical living.

“For we fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand.” Ephesians 6:11

While talking recently with a person struggling with feelings of inadequacy, any advice I gave proved to be totally ineffective. Then a thought came to mind that turned out to be the key to opening the door to this person’s emotional prison.

“This feeling of inadequacy is exactly what Satan wants you to focus on. Of course we are inadequate; we are human beings and have limitations. In contrast, God wants us to focus on Him, to find our adequacy in Him, our acceptance in Him, our worth and joy in Him.

“Satan, however, wants us to focus on what we can’t do; he wants us to work for our worth and to seek for the elusive happiness of accomplishment. So, whose lead are you going to follow? Are you going to fall into devil’s trap, or sidestep it with God’s truth?”

Asking “What would Jesus do in this situation?” helps us think biblically. Adding the question, “What would Satan want me to do?” will bring additional biblical clarity. Paul refers to this in Ephesians 6 when he says, “Put on the whole armor of God so you will not fall in to the wiles of the devil.”

Picture: remember what happened when others listened to the lies of the serpent!

More on things that hamper peacemaking. Last night we talked about the trap of being a victim which short-circuits resolving conflicts.

Now we will talk about the other obstacle. This is seeing ourselves as better than those sorry people who hurt us. By looking down on them, we can excuse our unforgiveness because they, of course, do not deserve to be forgiven.

However, In having this attitude, we fail again to take up the grace of God, to see the reality that we are all sinners.  In 2 Peter 1:5-7, the Holy Spirit lists out seven qualities we are to take up and use in our lives:

–virtue, (agreeing with God)

–knowledge (of Jesus and our natural condition of depravity, along with our unnatural condition of being forgiven, adopted and dearly loved by God),

–self-control (doing what we know is right, like forgiving),

–endurance (pressing on with what is right even when things don’t work out),

–godliness, (thinking and acting like God),

–brotherly kindness (the essence of peace making),

–and agape love (love that is not influenced by the response of others).

Looking at that list is impressive—if we added those qualities regularly, conflicts could be quickly resolved from our side.

Then God goes on to say that  “whoever does not have these qualities in his life is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.” This leads to thinking of himself better than others.

In contrast, He says of those who DO add these qualities, “they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So if we want to be effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus, here is a clear map to achieve that.

Humility is a key part of peace making, and humility can be defined as “seeing ourselves as God sees us,” both in our depravity and in our redeemed, imputed righteousness.

When we move towards this, we can forgive, remembering how much we have been forgiven, we can let go of our hurt and  with God’s grace rise above the difficulties of life. This help make peace in the most difficult relationships, thereby pleasing and honoring God!

Thoughts springing from my pastor’s ongoing series on peace making.

Peacemaking is hard because it is against our nature—it requires us to be humble, to forgive, to let go. We would rather avoid, gossip and punish the one who hurt us.

The key to peace making  is remembering how much WE have been forgiven. When we forget that, we fall into one of two traps (sometimes both at the same time).

First we can fall into the victim trap, feeling sorry for ourselves when others hurt us. Our culture pushes us to take this position.

Being a victim makes us focus on our hurt rather than on Jesus. Therefore we fail to take up the grace of God (trusting Him in His understanding of the situation, His working in our lives through this hurt, His great plan for our lives).

Hebrews 12:15 says, “Take heed lest you fail to take up the grace of God (the wisdom, insight and help he offers), lest a root of bitterness spring up troubling you, and many thereby are defiled.” Being a victim brings trouble to all around—and especially to you! Being bitter will trouble us deeply and others, too.

Jesus says, “Forgive as I have forgiven you,”(Col 3:13) not “nurse that grudge and make them hurt like they hurt you!” Forgiving is taking up the grace of God. It frees us from the anguish of victimhood, from the pollution of bitterness and brings us joy and peace as we trust God (Romans 15:13), knowing that He will use this hurt for good in our lives.

I will tell you about the second trap tomorrow.

Picture: unforgiveness and bitterness will only lead us into darkness.

This past week I was treated unjustly by some local bureaucrat, and it cost me quite a bit of money. But my Lord is in control here; He can bring the justice that is so lacking in this world. You, Lord, are the One who loves righteousness and justice, and our lives are full of your unfailing love.

To you be honor and glory for what you will do in my life, for, I know it will be good, just as you are good. The outcome may be hard, for you allow suffering for high and wise reasons. At the same time, you will also give more than enough grace to move through the experience with power and wisdom and joy. AndiIn the end of this bureaucratic incident, God showed His unfailing love, using the unjust demand  it to protect me from making a big and much more expensive mistake.

You are the True God, the only Wise One, the Source of all Good. We can and will praise you now for what you will do before seeing any conclusion to this situation. As it says in Psalm 33:10, “The Lord foils the plans of the nations, He thwarts the purposes of the people. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever and the purposes of His heart through all generations.”

Prayer: “Lord God, King of the universe, help me to trust in you today, to praise you in all that comes, pleasant or not, desired or feared, for you have great plans which will always include difficulties designed to make us grow. May you be glorified in my responses to today’s difficulties. Amen.”

When thing look bleak, God is there at work.

“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.” Psalm 37:5,6

How  many times have I seen the Lord lead me to trust Him instead of defending myself. And then He brought forth the truth to exonerate me. Not that I’m always right (!) but one of the Devil’s methods is to accuse us of wrong doing we did not do. In such a situation, rather than defend ourselves, it is much better to commit our way to Him, and wait for Him to work things out. Then our part is to forgive those who accused us falsely, to bless them in our words and prayers so God can break into their lives and protect them.

“You, Lord, are the God of all forgiveness; give us grace to grasp how much we are forgiven so we can forgive ourselves and then forgive others. May we keep on the whole armor to be useful to you and bring glory to your name. Amen.”

Picture: Who am I going to trust in the midst of the storm?

Notes and thoughts on my pastor’s Sunday’s sermon on peace making

The 4 Gs of peace making (from Ken Sande’s book Peace Making

–God’s Glory is what we seek—is this my motive in dealing with conflicts?

–Get the log out of my own eye—am I willing to be humble, admitting that I am not always right?

–Gently restore—am I going to be as merciful and gracious to this person as God is with me?

–Go and be reconciled—am I willing to get outside of my comfort zone, to determine to thwart Satan and obey God?

A very important point to remember:

Any conflict has an element of Spiritual Warfare, and we can be sure that Satan’s desires are the opposite of God’s.

We need to be aware that:

–He does not want us to seek God’s glory, but our own.

–He does not want us to admit our fault, but to blame others.

–He does not want us to be gentle, but harsh and angry.

–He does not want us to forgive, but to nurse grudges.

So, whenever we have a conflict we need to ask two questions:

What does Satan want me to do? Then do the opposite.

What does Jesus want me to do? Then deny yourself to obey Him.

That should clarify a lot, if we pay attention, a result in resolving a lot of conflicts!

Picture: will I follow the light, or turn to the darkness?

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He MAKES me to lie down in green pastures.” Psalm 23:1,2

God has an interesting way of looking out for my best interests. I am careful with money and don’t like to spend it on something unnecessary. However sometimes I don’t know what is necessary, but God does and makes sure I get it.

I mentioned earlier losing my cell phone; I was not happy with that, but thanked God anyway. And He did have a plan. I got a used replacement phone which turned out to be much better than the one I lost, including longer battery life! God said, “Time for a new and better phone.” That was His plan—and in each unpleasant happening He always has a plan for our good.

Then there was the muffler event. My old van had become louder and louder; a young friend looked at it and said we could use some muffler repair material to fix it. It certainly was quieter when he was done,  but, as I backed off the lift, the muffler caught on something and was ripped in half! Well, another chance to trust God and offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

My young friend offered to find and put on a new muffler. When he was done, not only was the van quieter, but because the old muffler seems to have been clogged, it ran much better, has more power and now gets better gas milage. Thank you, Lord, for making me do that!

Now I am facing another challenge with an unclear outcome. For a renovation project I working on, I must get approval from the health department, which, uncharacteristically has demanded a test of the present septic system. Hmm, another unnecessary expense, from my point of view. But God has a plan, so I thank Him, and wait in anticipation to see what He’s going to do.

All this confirms the truth of Psalm 50:23: “He who offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors God and opens the way for God to show him His salvation.” (Paraphrase)

More thoughts on “Forgive as you have been forgiven.” Colossians 3:12

Concerning the poor decisions I made that summer. The bottom line here is, “what do I do with my failures?”

For someone with my natural, old nature’s drive for success and fulfillment, these failures produced anger: towards myself, towards those who may point out my failures, and ultimately towards God who has “allowed me to be imperfect.” And then I am easily angry towards others who irritate me in some way.

None of this anger is righteous, but God used it as a “prod” to help me take up and put on the second piece of His armor of Eph. 6:10-18, the breast plate of righteousness. It is His righteousness that counts, not my being perfect, and He offers me His righteousness on a daily basis. I need to lay down my idol–my desire for the perfection, seeking to look good, even to myself–and instead affirm that only God does everything right.

God has, through Christ’s sacrifice, forgiven me for my sins and failures, so I need to agree and forgive myself on the basis of Christ’s work. Failure to appropriate this forgiveness is a greater failure than any of the other lacks I’ve mentioned!

Not everyone struggles with forgiving themselves, but many of us do so without realizing it. To accept God’s forgiveness allows us to forgive ourselves on the basis of His work, and then we are freed to forgive others.

Our Lord knows what He is doing in our lives, often leading us by enlightenment through our failures. The ways of God are both inscrutably complex and marvelously simple. Are we following?