Thoughts of a mostly broken, somewhat crazy man
The Right
Wanting to do what is right, is very different than wanting to be right. To do what is right, one must humbly admit that he is not always right and actively seek to find what is right and do it. Those who must be right, will in pride, actively seek to prove they are right no matter what is right. Those who desire to do what is right will seek to understand their short comings and the short comings of others. While those who desire to be right will live life with the attitude of everyone else is wrong, I’m right. Tyranny is born in those who desire to be right, while liberty is born with those who desire to do what is right. The irony of it all is you can never be right until you desire to do what is right and you will never desire to do what is right until you are able to admit that you are wrong.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
The Believer
To say you are a Christian, demands that you believe Christ is the son of God as he claimed, and that God created the universe by speaking it into existence. If you don’t believe those two things then God and the Son of God, Christ, are liars and lunatics, making you one as well. To believe is to seek perfection, much like the athlete that knows he will never be perfect yet strives for perfection for the love of his sport. If he truly loves the sport, he will never give less than all. By the same token a true Christian will never be satisfied with less than a perfect effort. Christ calls us to come as we are, but repentance demands that we never stay as we are.
Joel D Lehman
Freedom
A person can find freedom in prison or become a slave in their mansion. One may find freedom in losing everything while another builds a prison around one’s self with their plenty. The strongest chains that bind us are those we made ourselves and hardest door to open is the door to the cell whose key we hold. Freedom can only be found when you give yourself to something greater than yourself. The greatest freedom is found when we humbly lay ourselves at the foot of the cross.
Joel D Lehman ( Social Insanity)
Greed
Most speak of greed with contempt, yet its popularity grows. No one wants to be labeled greedy, yet most seek it out with the greatest of passion. Greed reaches maturity when one’s possessions possess them. Greed is the ultimate slave master for the slave is deceived into believing they are, in fact the master, therefore they will never attempt to free themselves. Socialism and Communism will not survive if the rich and powerful are not greedy for more of the same. Anytime rich and powerful people value freedom and opportunity not just for themselves but for all it lends credence to the common person’s thirst for it. It also means that the resources of those without greed will be used for more moral causes than attaining more wealth and power. If you are rich and value something other than wealth and power in a Socialist or Communist country, you will not be wealthy or powerful long.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
The Past
We find that the past holds an immense power over an individual. The power to effect one’s future by better preparing one for the future or by causing one to fear the future. Everyone’s future is affected by their past but their future does not have to be defined by their past. Only you are able to decide how the past will affect your future. The future in store for you depends solely on what you choose to do with your past.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Common Sense
In every individual lies a God given sense of right from wrong which corelates into a direct sense of what works and what doesn’t. This sense is common to all mankind and therefore we can call it common sense. It is the foundation for character, morality and essential in the search for truth, for without it we would not be able to discern whether it was truth or not. Also, within every search for truth we seek to know and be known by God which is why Christ said, “I am the way, the truth and the light.” Without this common sense one cannot know God is who he says he is. Common Sense becomes uncommon when a society seeks to excuse and approve of their immorality, live in darkness and deny the truth. When one ignores the sense that allows them to understand right from wrong, they also ignore the sense that tells them when something works and when it does not. They slowly become unable to comprehend, truth and character as they choose to make what is right, wrong and what is wrong, right. They lose their ability to understand or assess anything accurately because their entire existence is based on a lie. Immorality and the killing of common sense is the greatest tool of Satan and all who follow him, to lead multitudes to the slaughter.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
The Blessing
As we sit surrounded by our things, we pray for blessing, more of the same, yet from the pit we cry, ‘Lord why have you forsaken us.’ In the pit as we reach desperately for the outstretched hand of our savior. It is then and only then that we look deep into the eyes of the one who loved us more than life. There we learn what it means to love and be loved, only to find that is the blessing.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Evolution
Without the belief in a creator an individual is unable to conceive of anything truly creative. Only the creative individual is able to adapt and evolve with every varying situation. This means that for evolution to work it requires a creator. It is like the old conundrum, ‘which came first the chicken or the egg’. The answer has to be, something created either the chicken or the egg because neither can just appear out of thin air. It requires a creator or at the very least, a mind creative enough to adapt and evolve which also can only come from a creator. From what has been learned from the history of every society, most reach a plateau and then steadily gets worse not better. It is apparent that the greater their success was, the greater their failure in the end. Therefore, the premise of the evolutionist is the opposite of reality, which leads one to believe evolution is based less on truth than myths are, for most myths at least contain elements of the truth. If one can be made to believe in evolution, it is possible to get them to believe just about anything, except the truth.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Character
Some say character is what you do when no one is looking. The reality is, character is the belief that someone is always watching. Because that someone is truth and defines right from wrong the one who possesses character will always seek the truth, therefore always desire to do what is right whether anyone is present or not.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Suffering
Through an abyss of suffering many times we find an island that we call paradise that can only be found on a voyage such as this, for it is the suffering that drives us on in search of something better. Without the suffering we would be tempted to plant our flag on an island far less perfect and lose the hope of something better. For this present suffering brings a hope and vision of something far better. We seek out comfort but comfort produces complacency, complacency brings forth laziness and with laziness comes destruction and suffering. Count it all joy when you endure trials. We must embrace this suffering as God’s tool to move us forward, for without the hope and vision it produces we will perish. Only through complete and total surrender at the cross of Christ is it possible to claim victory over the things that bind us and be truly free. I can confidently stand on God’s power only after I have humbly knelt and surrendered all of who I am to him. We must approach God with open hands and heart, willing to let him have all that we possess and willing to receive all he has for us, whether we perceive it as good or bad. Our forefathers sought this island out in the midst of their suffering and planted a flag but this was not their paradise. Their heart was pointed to heaven where those who suffer for Christ are blessed. This was only a stop, a resting point on their voyage towards heaven. We, on the other hand, got comfortable and viewed this as paradise, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. In turn we have reaped what we sowed, suffering. Where or who we will turn to for paradise remains the question to be answered now.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Healing
Absolute healing will never come from medicine alone for medicine has no ability to heal the spirit or the soul. The soul has power over the body, for it is apparent that if one’s soul is healthy even the unhealthiest of bodies become irrelevant to the soul it bears. That spirit will find joy even as the body withers. The opposite is true also. When the soul is unhealthy, the body will follow suit, eventually failing and soul with it. True healing is only found in the one who has power over both the body and the soul. He is who we must go to first for healing, for it is the fool who trades what he dare not lose to save what he cannot keep.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Justice
We cry for justice, yet what we seek is something we, ourselves, have no desire to endure. We desire forgiveness for our failures, while in turn we seek justice for those who have failed us. Justice punishes all who fail, with no respect for person or position, without fail. Mercy, however, makes a way for our debt to be forgiven without justice being served. We desire mercy for it doesn’t require repentance, for the one wronged willingly forfeits their right to justice. Because God is holy and just, He is not able to offer mercy alone for He would no longer be just. Grace, because of His mercy, pays our debt for us so justice can remain just. Grace requires repentance for grace to bring about a new life. Without repentance the one receiving grace is only free to do what is wrong without consequences, leaving one in a more destructive place than they were in the beginning. This is why Christ stated that if you don’t forgive, His father would not forgive you. Without His mercy there is no grace, for grace is the ultimate example of mercy in action, but it is only available to the truly repentant. The willingness to forgive another out of a profound gratitude for the mercy shown them, is how one knows they own a repentant heart. You can only experience the love, mercy and grace of the Lamb that was slain when you have learned to fear the awesome power and fierce justice of the Lion of Judah.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Security
Our security depends entirely on what we put our trust in. We find that when we trust anything that can be taken from us our trust is in a house built on sand. In this house we will never find rest for our weary souls. To trust in people is even worse for the hearts of man are easily swayed and less secure than the house on sand for it is a house of cards. Only when we put our trust in the unchangeable, immoveable rock of Christ can we be secure in knowing our faith will not be wasted.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Attitude of Equality
We are not born equal. This is obvious to the simplest of people. Rich hold power over the poor, the strong over the weak and the large over the small. Women are generally the weaker sex and men should they choose could subjugate women and many places do. The stronger man or nation many times subjugate weaker men or nations for the sake of power and control. The rich will tend to lord over the poor. If you were born black in America you were born unequal because you belong to thirteen percent of the population and white people make up sixty percent of the population and could be made slaves again if all the white people desired to do so. But a white man born in Africa is also a minority and born unequal because black people are the majority. Technology also creates inequality. A man with a gun is not equal to a man with a knife. We are all born unequal due to stature and statis.
The reason the forefathers of this great country could claim that all men are created equal in God’s eyes is not due to statis or stature. They were intelligent men and knew all men are not born equal. They were following biblical principles. God did not form us equal but he created us equal by holding every man, woman and child to the same standard no matter their statis or stature. God in His wisdom didn’t set a standard that any man could obtain therefore creating inequality. He made himself the standard. Perfection. If you are not perfect in every way you have missed the mark and have failed in God’s eyes. He, also handed down the same punishment for failing to meet this standard. Death. Eternal death is the punishment for all who fail to meet the standard. But God in his mercy through Christ Jesus also provided everyone the same opportunity for redemption. All can be saved through Christ’s death on the cross if they so choose. The forefathers recognized that because we all were not born equal, God created us equal by holding all of us to the same standard and punishment therefore applying true justice. But he also, because of his mercy and kindness granted everyone the same and equal opportunity if they choose to receive it.
True justice and equal opportunity, is the foundation for the entire Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. This is a gift that is given to the weak by the strong. Entitlement is when the weak no longer recognize the gift and believe they are owed it and deserve it. When someone no longer recognizes equality as a gift and believe that they deserve equality even though they could easily be subjugated by another, this same individual because of the absence of gratitude will immediately begin subjugating those they deem weaker than themselves. Those who have truly experience inequality and its effects and then have experienced the gift of being created equal by God will never choose to subjugate others. Tyranny is the banner of the entitled, while gratitude and equality is the banner of those who truly recognize how God created them equal. The tyrant will speak of equality for themselves with those that are stronger only to seek the subjugation of those weaker than them. The Constitution can only work if the strong believe that the equality given by God is a truly a gift and are grateful for it.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Surrender
God did not speak in the mighty wind, nor the earthquake or the raging fire, He spoke in a still small voice. We cannot hear what God has to say because we never shut up long enough to hear Him. We are constantly telling him His business, complaining or begging for something instead of sitting in silence. Only in complete, utter silence, can God be heard. If God can be heard above the chatter of the voices in your mind, He will be telling you something you won’t want to hear anyway. Only when we surrender and silently submit at the cross of Christ, will our voices cease so we can hear His.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Truth
The search for truth has plagued mankind for all generations. We seek it in knowledge, we seek it in faith. To know what is true is to experience what is real. In a world littered with lies it is hard to comprehend that truth is even possible. Christ said he was the truth so to know this truth you must experience him to know he is real. Without this experience you cannot know for certain if he is indeed real. He cannot be evaluated or tested from a distance. He must be experienced in person or the truth will always be hidden from you.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Knowledge
It is said knowledge is power but the power to do what? Knowledge used for power and position is the same knowledge that also brings pride and with pride comes the down fall of every individual who bears it. This is an easy path in the beginning yet it ends in heartache. There is another path to knowledge that is a hard path. It is the slow, long path to wisdom, for it produces character along the way. Wisdom must be the desire of those who travel this path for anyone seeking anything other than wisdom will seek out the easier path. The character and righteousness that wisdom produces will lead the bearer and all who follow to a place of honor and respect in the present and the future. The fools who choose power without the control that character brings, will not exercise the discipline required to delay gratification in the hope of achieving what is far better. This leads the knowing proud and all who follow them to disgrace and destruction.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Worry
I have heard it said that worry is the purist form of Atheism, which I find to be true. The source of worry is found in what you trust. If you trust yourself and you know you fail, you will without fail worry. Worry within the believer displays to what degree they trust God and whether their faith is small or smaller, for I know of no one who can truly say they never worry or are afraid. Christ said if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, we could tell mountains to move and they would obey. I have seen few mountains moved but I have witnessed a great deal of worry.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Leaders
Everyone wants to be a leader until it requires that they are the first to walk through the fire. We seek out the praise and position it affords but not the service and sacrifice it involves. No selfish or prideful person can be considered a true leader. You will find the true leader loving and serving those around him, seeking only to help others with his talents. He is not looking behind him to see who is following or watching, for his only concern is that those around him are cared for and safe. When you see someone going about their daily business seemly unaware of the line of people behind them seeking to emulate all that they are doing, you will know you have witnessed what it is to be a leader.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
The Created
We were created to serve God not for him to serve us. The proud demand God serve them, the humble seek to serve God. The proud seek the approval of man, the humble the approval of God. If the approval of man is more important than the approval of God, you are a proud person and God resists the proud and seeks the humble and contrite heart. To say we serve God yet seek the approval of man above God and then expect him to bless us is the pinnacle of hypocrisy.
Joel D Lehman
True Power
“Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matt. 7:13-14). The world wields more power over the human mind than does the ways of God, for like water, mankind seeks out the path of least resistance. To seek out the ways of God requires a concerted effort that goes against what comes naturally. Only when the effort is made to hold onto or build upon something that is immovable will one ever find the true life that is found on the narrow road. Only when one finds the small gate do they find out what real power is. The power to cut through the ordinary, like a flood that makes a new path for the water to follow, this power puts one on a new path that is not obligated to follow the path of least resistance but the path of greatest reward.
Joel D Lehman
Temptation
The most subtle and destructive temptation is the one that tells you, you deserve or need more than what God has given you. It is this temptation, that encourages you to step outside of God’s design for your life. Once outside of God’s design, it then becomes easy to wander. Soon you will completely lose your way making, returning to the center of His will extremely difficult. The only thing that is more difficult than finding your way back, is the life you will lead on the outside of His will.
Joel D Lehman (Social Insanity)
Rules and the Rulers
All forms of government, whether religious or political, have one thing in common, rules. What defines any type of government is a society or, group of people who live under a common set of rules. The more rules the rulers create, the more tyranny can be hidden inside those rules. Rulers ultimately, make rules to control those they rule over. God set forth ten rules and no man was able to keep even ten. Christ condensed the ten commands to two, love God and love others as yourself and man seems unable to keep those without his help. You can, serve yourself or serve others. Unless you are serving something greater than yourself tyranny will exist. The greatest indication of whether a ruler is self-serving or given to serving others, will be apparent in how many rules the ruler makes. Rules are made to control the behavior of the ruled. The more the ruler cares for the ruled, the fewer the rules, for he will leave the ruled to decide what is in their best interest. Only passing rules to defend others when they are unable to defend themselves. No rule will be enacted to profit or benefit the ruler above the ruled.
Joel D Lehman
Created to Serve
Some say we are created with a God sized hole in our heart. Our life will be unfulfilled if we are not doing what we were created for. We were created, as part of creation, to manage and care for His creation within His design. When we live outside of His design, we cannot live in relationship with Him, leaving us feeling empty, without any purpose for our life. Without any real purpose for existing, people will be unproductive, lack creativity, and have very little hope in life. The further we remove ourselves from what we were created for, the more despondent an individual will become. To disavow God as a pivotal part of our existence, is to remove the reason for our very existence as well as the very thing that brings stability to our lives through His design. This leaves us to conclude that an individual will never live life to its fullest without first recognizing their place within God’s purpose for their life.
Joel D Lehman
Grandchildren
God gives us children to keep us humble. To let us know we are not as smart as we thought we were. He gave us grandchildren to humble our children and let us know we are not as dumb as our children thought we were.
Joel D Lehman
The House
The house of God is built on a foundation of truth. Contrary to the house of God, the house of Satan is built on a foundation of deception and lies. If you are seeking the truth above all, you will find it in the house of God the Father and his son Christ Jesus. All else is found in the house of Satan and in his house you will be deceived.
Joel D Lehman
Deception
When imperfect men seek to interpret the perfect word of God, they will inevitably come to flawed conclusions. Only when, working together with many perspectives, realizing how flawed we can be and recognizing how difficult it is to remove one’s self from the conclusion, is it possible to come to the truth of God’s word. The problem with the doctrines and denominations that exist today is that we quit searching for the truth found in following Christ. Believing that we have attained the perfect truth, we follow the men that gave us this conclusion rather than Christ. Whether because of pride or complacency we quit searching for more of the truth that can only come through following Christ. Because it is what we want to believe, doesn’t make it truth. People move from religion to religion, denomination to denomination, believing they have found more of God’s truth, only to find more of the same. Lies and deception. Whether one sincerely believes their conclusions about God’s word, makes no difference. They remain deceived and it remains a lie, whether it is intentional or not. We must struggle with God, strive for the truth of Christ in God’s word, and contend for the faith or we will blindly follow the misconceptions of men and be deceived.
Joel D Lehman
The Counterfeit
Every religion and denomination is built on a man’s perspective of God or God’s word. Not one of these is entirely correct. While many get certain aspects right, they all still fail, largely because, the interpretation is born in humanity not in Christ. Christ was perfect we are not. One learns to identify a counterfeit bill by studying a perfect version of that bill. The better one knows the real thing, the quicker one can spot a counterfeit. In the same token Christ demonstrated and taught us everything necessary to live a life grounded in the truth of God. The more we study Christ’s life and what he taught us the easier it is to spot those things that don’t align with God’s word. This practice will always expose the counterfeit.
Joel D Lehman
If God Made Us Equal
What if God made us all equal? Same faults, same gifts, same abilities and same looks. What a boring, dysfunctional world it would be. God made many parts to a puzzle, that when working together create a beautiful world. How much could be attained if we worked together for the good of everyone. The only way unity creates something that is good for everyone, is when we unify and work together for God’s glory and follow his principles.
Joel D Lehman
The Hypocrite
Anyone who says they are not a hypocrite is a liar as well. All fail to do what they believe or be what they desire to be. Every individual is a hypocrite by default, for all fail in one way or another. To be a hypocrite by default is to be human. The truer form of hypocrisy is to be a hypocrite by design. This is the individual that says one thing and holds others to a standard that they themselves, either can’t keep or choose not to keep. These are some examples of hypocrites by design. The one who says they believe in evolution yet passes laws to protect the stupid and foolish. The one who believes in evolution, yet believes the environment, the world, animals and people can’t evolve with the gradual increase of temperature on the planet. The ones who say slavery is bad but the killing of babies by abortion is ok. The one who says that the matter of abortion should be left up to the states but not the use of drugs, slavery, who one is able to murder or if they can and why. The one who says confederate symbols are evil and should be removed yet is ok with the cross being displayed as symbol of love. Anyone who says abortion is ok in the case of incest and rape yet opposes the death penalty for those murdering, raping and committing sex crimes. (you can kill an innocent child but not the one who committed the crime?) The one who believes evolution (the survival of the fittest) yet, believes slavery, murder, tyranny, genocide, and stealing is wrong. The one who says they love and serve Christ yet are more concerned with what people say than what He has to say. The one who says, they believe Christ died for them and that is how they know he loved them, so they love him, yet are unwilling to sacrifice all to follow him. The ones who say they are Christians and trust God yet are worried about everything. The Christian who says they love God and want to serve him yet willingly vote for those who believe in and promote abortion. These are just a few of the glaring hypocrisies by design that are commonplace in society today. There are plenty more. Only those who seek to purge all hypocrisy from their lives can be considered hypocrites by default.
Joel D Lehman
Grandpa’s Poem
What I said and what Christ said
I said, “Let me walk in the field.” He said, “No walk in the town.”
I said, “There are no flowers there.” He said, “No flowers but a crown.”
I said, “But the skies are black, there is nothing there but noise and din.”
And He wept as he sent me back, “There is more,” He said, “There is sin.”
I said, “But the air is thick and fogs veiling the sun.”
He said, “But hearts are sick, and souls undone.”
I said, “I shall miss the light, and friends will miss me, they say.”
And He answered, “Choose tonight if I am to miss you or they.”
I pleaded for more time to be given. He said, “Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in heaven to have followed the steps of your guide.”
Then I turned one look at the field, and set my face to the town.
He said, “My child, do you yield, will you leave the flowers for the crown?”
Then into his hand went mine and into my heart came He.
And I walked in a light divine that path I had feared to see.
Author Unknown (
Parables of a Prodigal Son
)
Different
We have a tendency to demonize different and then embrace the evil within the different. Being different makes you unique and special while judging one only for being different is in fact embracing an evil called out by Christ, himself. We must call out sin but unfortunately the church has a tendency to attack the different but embrace the evil ideology that led the religious leaders to crucify Christ.
Joel D Lehman
Sin of Projection
In the Sermon on the Mount Christ said that just thinking about doing something outside of God’s design is the same as doing it. That sin indicates where the heart is at and that the outward manifestation is only a reflection of what resides inside. Later on in His talk, He spoke of not judging others, He was speaking directly to the sin of projection. He said that one cannot take the splinter out of another’s eye when he has a beam in his own eye. The point is, you cannot objectively help someone with their problem when you haven’t personally dealt with your similar problems. One is unable to fairly assess another’s situation while never dealing with their own situation, making the entire process hypocritical. An alcoholic cannot help another alcoholic as long as they have never dealt with their own abuse of alcohol. The sin of projection says blame your failures on someone else’s failures. Placing the responsibility of your problem on someone else instead of owning responsibility for the problem and dealing with what is at the heart of the issue. For the alcoholic it is blaming past, parents or society for their failure. It is like the man that blames his infidelity on women dressing immodestly. “If they didn’t dress that way I wouldn’t be tempted to cheat on my wife.” The woman who cheats on her husband and says, “if her husband had treated her differently, she would have never been tempted to cheat on him.” This is just scratching the surface of our projection, for we all do it to some degree. The external influences only magnify what is residing in the heart. Most see the external and it is easy to see what is not acceptable from the outside looking in, but it is far more difficult and uncomfortable to do, looking from the inside out. This is the why Christ said first deal with the beam in your eye so you can see clearly to remove the splinter in someone else’s eye. Judging others is the sin of projection. Believing that the external sin is somehow worse than the root of the sin hidden within. Blaming others for or excusing one’s failures on the basis that someone else failed, leads to everyone failing to change anything. Nothing will change until each individual faces the problem that lies within. The sin of projection is the most damaging sin in society for the root of the problem is never dealt with and only grows more prevalent. It generally creates division and destroys the society that it has infested. It will always be prevalent in the world outside of Christ, but there are no brakes on the behavior when it becomes common practice and accepted in the church of Christ. Currently, many in the church blame the worlds immorality for its own struggles with morality, instead of their lack of devotion, committed love for Christ and their unwillingness to submit completely to his design and authority. This ultimately leaves the professing Christian ineffective and unfulfilled so, it obviously must be the world’s fault. Then the world returns the favor by blaming the church when they are unfulfilled and unloved in their life of immorality. Blaming those who point out the immorality for their inability to find satisfaction in their lifestyle choices. Instead of the thinking maybe, I would be more fulfilled and loved in my life if I embraced God’s love and forgiveness. I find the sin of projection is one of the most popular sins of the human race today. Apparently, it was also the same in Christs day.
Joel D Lehman
Forgiveness
I have long struggled with how it was possible to forgive those who were currently in the middle of attacking you with no sorrow for their offence, in fact proud or happy with the results of their offences. Even, believing they are right in doing what they were doing or at the very least have the right. I have heard many ideas which seem to carry no weight and were of no help as I pursued the desire to emulate Christ’s forgiveness. This is what I have found to add more confusion to the idea of forgiveness. Christ in Matt. 9:6, forgave the paralyzed man, lowered through the roof of the house, of his sins and then healed him of his paralysis to prove that He had the power and authority to forgive his sins. I have believed that if Christ was my standard, I must do as He did and my failure and my struggle was when He said, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they do.” Yet, I was unable to forgive others for offences when they were not seeking forgiveness for them. What had escaped me was that Christ, even as the son of God with the power and authority to forgive sins, never himself forgave those crucifying him of their sins and offences committed directly to him. Why not? I have finally realized He was fulfilling His command to love and pray for your enemies not forgiving them. They knew exactly what they were doing they just didn’t realize who they were doing it to. In Luke 12:10 and Mark 3:29 Christ stated that men could speak against Him and be forgiven but if they offended the holy spirit they would not be forgiven. Was he asking the Father to forgive the unforgiveable because, in their blindness they did not realize what they were doing or, who they were doing it to? What I now believe, is that He was asking in His prayer, that God would give them another chance and open their eyes to who He was? I also believe, God answered that prayer for a least one Centurion when he declared, “surely this was the Son of God.” Christ never forgave any of them for their sins toward him, but He loved them enough to pray for their eternal well-being and that their eyes would be opened. There was another whose eyes were opened, and Christ did offer him forgiveness. One of the criminals who hung on the cross next to him recognized his failures and who Christ was. He only asked that Christ remember him when he came into His kingdom. Christ said he would be with Him in paradise that day. God’s forgiveness through Christ is there waiting for each individual who recognizes their need for it and asks for it, but God forgives no one without that step. I have been trying to forgive what Christ Himself didn’t do and then holding animosity towards those who I couldn’t forgive and myself. What a disservice that is to everyone involved. It is not ours to forgive the offences committed against us unless, they are truly seeking it. It is for us to love and pray for them, praying that God heal their blindness and restore them to Himself. If through that process they truly seek my forgiveness, then I am to forgive what God has already forgiven. Because the Holy Spirit lives in me their first offense was against God not me. If I refuse to forgive, at that point God will not forgive me, for that is a demonstration of how little I value His forgiveness. Christ told a parable illustrating this concept in Matthew 18. Also, if someone is sinning against me as a believer who has the Holy Spirit living in me, they are sinning against the Holy Spirit and when does that become unforgivable as if they were crucifying Christ. I, like Christ should asking God the Father to reveal Himself to them and forgive them for their blindness and ignorance. For I would hope they would pray for me that way if I am sinning against someone who has the Holy Spirit living in them. 1John 1:9 says, ”If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I have spent years driving myself crazy trying to do what Christ would not and did not do, but then failing at the very thing I should have been doing. The first is impossible, for I don’t have the authority to forgive sin, the second is very possible and I might add, much easier when God and I are in the right rolls in my life. To think I can forgive someone’s offences without repentance, only leads to excusing the offence. This was not God’s plan. Which then opens up one more thought. Who am I, to not forgive myself, when God will? When I forgive myself by embracing God’s forgiveness, it makes it much easier to forgive others seeking my forgiveness for I should be doing for others what I desire they would do for me.
Joel D Lehman