NO Limits

Romans 15:7 says, " Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you,"

Interesting isn't it. There are no stipulations to that, no small fine print at the bottom of the page or found in the foot notes. Accept one another, no limits.

Jesus didn't pick and choose who he accepted, in fact, he accepted those that others would usually ignore and pretend like they didn't exist, or they would make fun of and tear down. Not Jesus, he had no limits to his acceptance of others.

I find myself caught in a dilema sometimes. I put limits on who I accept, I make excuses and give, "reasons" why I cannot accept some people. My how God has convicted me. Why would I ever think that there is anything about me that makes me any better than any other person ever? I am not saying that I just think that I'm this great person who is so above others, that is not my intent at all.

What I am saying is that sometimes I put limits on who I accept, maybe it's because I don't think I have anything in common with someone, maybe it's because I just don't know what to say or where I would begin, maybe it's because I don't feel like someone would want to even be talking to me. Something that I have learned as a mother of some very friendly children, sometimes a smile and a simply hello can go a long way.

So, no limits in who to accept. NO LIMITS!

Forgiveness in part

Forgiveness, ugh. Not THAT word again. Sometimes we treat it as such an aweful thing, why should I forgive them? I have been preparing for our Thursday nights for next month, and forgiveness is the topic of the month. It's not always easy to forgive, in fact it's sometimes downright difficult. However as Christians, if we are really living our lives surrendered to God, it should be more difficult for us not to forgive. Unforgiveness is something that should eat away at us, because it is something that seperates us from God.

I found something interesting as I was preparing for this topic. I like definitions, they help to put boundaries on words and ideas, to make them more concrete. So I looked up the definition of forgive and I noticed in particular definition #4, "to cease to feel resentment against." Oh it's like someone smacked me right square in the forehead on this one. We often times stop with the grant pardon for, but don't go far enough into the cease to feel resentment against. But that's true forgiveness isn't it? You know the phrase forgive and forget. Not forgive and store away hard feelings so that you can bring it up during an argument and throw it in the other person's face. Imagine if God did that to us. Kept a record of our wrongdoings just to throw them in our face when we are down. How ugly would that be? May I follow Christ's example of forgiveness. True forgiveness, to cease to feel resentment against.

Lord instill in me a heart of TRUE forgiveness.