Starting Clean

“Starting Clean”
Ephesians 5:1-2

As we break the huddle from family reunions and holiday gatherings, most everyone has a relative they clash with or don’t understand. For lack of a better word, they just “bug us.” We don’t like being around them.

Maybe we left last semester with a bad roommate situation or someone who is in our house that we’d rather not see when we go back to school. We don’t like them because they have made us mad or upset, so why deal with them?

Paul cuts right to the point in his letter to the Ephesians when he writes, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us…” Our life needs to be patterned after how God has loved us and has given such tremendous forgiveness through His Son, Jesus. Paul is making a point about forgiving others much in the same way He has forgiven us. We imitate His love and compassion (see chapter 4 verse 32).

Do you need to forgive anyone? Is there someone who needs compassion from you?

Listen to this story of forgiveness that Chuck Colson shared this week:

Ninety-two-year-old Pauline Jacobi had just finished loading her groceries into her car at a local Wal-Mart in Dyer County, Tennessee. She got in her car, and a moment later, a man climbed into the passenger side. He said he had a gun and that he would shoot her if she did not hand over her money. What she did next did not involve pepper-spray or martial arts, but it did save her life and may have saved his.
Pauline calmly refused her would-be robber three times. Then she said, “You know, as quick as you kill me, I’ll go to heaven and you’ll go to hell.” Then she told him that he needed to ask God for forgiveness. “Jesus is in this car,” she said, “and He goes with me everywhere I go.” Jacobi said that the man looked around, and then tears began to come to his eyes.
For 10 more minutes, Jacobi shared with the man. Finally, he said, “I think I will go home tonight and pray.” But Jacobi told him that he did not need to wait to pray; he could pray now.
Then Jacobi voluntarily offered the man all the money she had on her, 10 bucks, on one condition—that he not spend the money on whiskey. After that, the man kissed her on the cheek, got out of the car, and walked away.

Wow! Now that’s an example worth following. I want my faith, life, and forgiveness to be like that 90 year old woman who had all of her priorities straight.

As we start this New Year, it might do us good to check our hearts and perhaps extend compassion and forgiveness to those who have hurt us most deeply. It’s a great time to start with a clean slate. Let’s live out our faith in such a way this year that people can’t help but be changed in a radical way when they see our focus on forgiveness and our faith to imitate the Father’s love.

Ward

P.s. Make sure you keep in touch with your kampers! Visit this link to get your kamper information…www.kanakuk.com/staff and contact them.