Untangling

You have acne all over your face. Do you see it? Notice how it hurts you, makes you feel bad. You have been wronged, abused, deceived. You find a twisted delight in prodding at the puss, complaining about the protruding piece of disgust. You look at the mirror, look at yourself. All you care about is your hurt. You focus on only you. And you let the acne, the hurt spread. It overwhelms you. You are constantly conscious of your acne. You cannot forget.

Having acne is like holding a grudge.

You want to get rid of the disgusting spots and thoughts in your life. But something is stopping you. It might be pride. It might be fear. It might be because that acne medicine had false advertising. But mostly it is because you think only of yourself. You and your pain become best enemies, gasping for more of that noxious air to breathe, for more bacteria to tell the world about. You may prod at the acne, may ponder about forgiveness. But you never are willing to destroy your pain, your hurt.
When someone wrongs you, it feels unnatural to forgive.
When you have acne, it feels destructive to pop the zit.

It takes courage and love to initiate forgiveness. You love your face, you are going to give that acne a kick. You show love to that person by destroying the nasty thoughts.

And when you pop the puss, it looks better. You flatten the blob of vileness and take away the sewage of sorrow. You say the “I forgive you” line and begin the process of erasing irritation. Its painful to puncture a puss pocket, to dismiss someone whose hurt you. But it makes the thoughts that plague you go away. You have to learn how to forget.

Forgiveness is an operation. It hurts. It does not feel right. But in the end, it does a whole lot of good.

We all know that popping a zit is not the best way to go about destroying acne. It may spread bacteria. It leaves scars. You are not a perfect person and so you will still have to keep forgiving.

But there is a far better way to get rid of acne. There is an ultimate source of forgiveness. Acne can be destroyed with a chemical solution. Its much more expensive and it may cost you, but it does a better, more sanitary job. In reality, there is no perfect acne removal system. But there is someone who is capable of complete and pure forgiveness. God.

“No matter how deep is the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

God is the ultimate master of forgiveness. We wrong Him everyday. We slander, abuse, pollute, attack, kill, destruct… We have so many words for all the wicked humans are capable of. And yet He forgives us.

How?

He did it through the death of His son. His solution for the acne, for the sin was the substance of His son, of blood.

He killed Himself. Just like you have to kill your pride when you forgive someone, God killed Himself when Jesus died on the cross.

“He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven.” Ephesians 1:7

When we truly believe, we have this realization of forgiveness. No more guilt. He does not hold a grudge. We are free.

And because we are forgiven by God, we are called to forgive others, to pop those zits with the best of our ability.

“You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Colossians 3:13

It is so difficult to forgive. If something has made you cry so badly, so fiercely…You just hold on to the pain. You do not like giving up something that has hurt you. It is not fair to feel the pain, to be the one having acne.
Why do we keep the grudge? Why should we forgive and move on? Because God has erased our sins. And it would be hypocritical for us to not forgive others.

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Forgiving someone is like killing yourself, your pride. You want justice. You want to let the world know that you have been wronged.

But you have wronged others. Maybe they have never forgiven you. You know how it feels.

There is something wrong with us. We all have faults. But take God. See how allowed himself to die, see how he LOVES us. He took the love potion, the blood and washed away the sins. He is the ultimate forgiver.

God loves you and forgives you…for everything…everything! A difficult concept for humans. But a good example to follow. A good relief for the acne in this world.

You like girl. You try to woo girl. Flowers. Grapes. Tomatoes. Presents you have made with your very own hands. You think about girl constantly. You pursue girl. You give girl everything. Girl takes all the gifts in, praising the items. Only problem is, girl does not notice you, tries not to. Girl thinks you are silly, has a hatred for you. Girl keeps you invisible to her, places you as a thing to be ignored, only a thing. You are hurt, crushed but you continue on. Girl is trapped under a spell, in love with a demonic man. Girl needs to wake up, to find true love. You cannot force her, would not be genuine love. But, you are always there, reminding girl softy, purely of your presence.

This is how God loves and longs for you.

He has been giving you presents ever since you came into existence.

First, He gave you life. You exist. He allowed you to breathe, to think.

Grass to lay in, water to drink, starry skies, the ability to laugh, wind…
trees for shade, bananas perfectly made….

With beauty, He tugs at your heart. Glimpses of God. Love. God is love.
He wants you and gives you clues to allow His love to fill you.

But people reject the beauty. They reject God.

His love is the most pure.

He showed His love by giving up His only son, by dying.
And when we turn Him away, it is kind of like turning down a love.

It is how God feels.

He pursues you. You can either allow His advances or reject Him. A girl has to allow a man to pursue her more. She has to be open to the love.

“Come near to God and He will come near to you.”

He is your truest love.

Think how it feels when someone rejects you. That is how God feels. His emotions are ours. Our emotions are his.

Will you turn His love away or allow the possibilities? Will you allow Him to rescue you from the worldly powers, from the evil one, from Satan?

He is your truest love.

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with His love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Check out this blog relating God’s love in a romantic form.
Peggies Place Blog

Once upon a time you were born. You cannot remember that day. You cannot remember anything. That moment in your life is a sort of fairy tale, so far away and strange. You cannot figure out what that day was like by yourself. You cannot  pick apart your mind and find those days, those days you spent jostling around in the darkness of the womb, growing bones and cells multiplying, organs and tissues,  eyeballs and toes. Your brains did not have the capability of longterm memory. You were this magnificent being unknowing what you would become. You were in a stage of darkness, confusion.

Blankness and uncertainty fills the first epoch of your life. Does that scare you?

Not really.

Because it is natural. Everyone cannot remember their first stages of existence. You were not there mentally so it does not bother you. And you’ve heard about your life through another source. Most likely your parents told you about your day of birth, the months before you can remember, the pictures, the videos, the stories, even the artifacts of your childhood. They are loving and true. They give you evidence. You trust their words.

But what happens if you do not have your actual birth parents. Someone who does not know you deeply takes you in. They tell you they love you but something is missing. They did not make you. You trust them and find shelter in them, but they do not know everything about you. Or what if you do not trust your parents. You claim them as your makers but you truly do not accept their account. You find them fallible and unrealistic. You think of them as merely figures to be used once in awhile when troubles come. In these respects, you are not fully sure of your story, your existence. You cannot feel complete.

Do you know where you come from? How you got here?

Not in the birth from the womb sense. But humanity in a whole sense.

Do you know how we got here?

It all seems hazy, the past. The story of Adam and Eve. The biblical accounts. Noah. Moses. Even historical accounts of history. Aristotle. Columbus. They are so far away sometimes, so separate. But what do you use to bring yourself back into their reality? How much do you trust in those people having actually existed?

People trust history books more than the Bible it seems. Yet…

“The quantity of New Testament material is almost embarrassing in comparison with other works of antiquity.”

And when people look for their past, the definition of who they are, it all depends on the source feeding them. Just as if you know your parents and trust them concerning your birth, if you know God and trust him, you are not going to discredit His account of humanity. You are going to believe Him. Confusion lessens because you are familiar with His words, the Bible. You know your Father and know that you are His child.

But if you submit to someone else as your ‘god’ who isn’t in fact the real true God, how can you know yourself completely? Just as it is difficult to find out about your past from people who aren’t your parents, it is difficult to find out the meaning of your life without searching for it.

And if you do not trust your parents, how are you supposed to know who you are? Many people claim to know God but there is not trust involved. God is a faraway concept, a toy to be taken out when the times get rough. A figure not to be trusted. His words to be ignored.

You will know who you are if you go to your Creator.

The creation account of man seems so far and distant and out of the realm of possibility.

But it is natural.

We are all born not knowing.

We are all conceived with the same cloudy symptom.

We just need to find our Creator and know…

that there is something greater waiting outside the darkness.

You are mysterious. You might not think so. You might have the notion that you are simply simple, that your life is a tale already told. You might think your friends know you. In fact, they do not. They cannot comprehend what you think before you go to sleep, do not know what slides around in your dreams, might not know about your deepest fear.

“Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.” Proverbs 14:10

Have you ever had a strange sensation that you alone could barely explain? Not necessarily a bad feeling, a sort of sentimental glimmer somewhere smeared on the edge of your existence. No one can fully understand another human being. You cannot completely know yourself. You wonder why you do the things you do. Hidden are the people you think you know. Hidden is the person inside you that you thought you knew. We are mysterious.

But someone knows everything about you, about your heart. Even if you can’t understand yourself, someone does. God does.

“For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” 1 John 3:20

Only God can know you fully. Not your mom. Not your brother. Not your best friend.

God is the one who made you, who hears the unspoken thoughts.

Do you ever felt horrible after you have said something that offended someone on accident? And then you beat yourself up with thoughts? The thing is, God knows you weren’t trying to be hurtful. He knows your heart, the reason behind the words. Let God be the judge. You don’t know yourself in areas that he does.

And what is fantastic is the truth possible for you. You can have a best friend that is always there for you, always in your thoughts, unrestricted access. His name is Jesus. He knows God. He is God. He can sympathize with your weaknesses because he himself was tempted. He’s calling your name. You just have to listen and be open to the truth that there is someone who knows you in and out. Just open yourself up to the truth. It’s no mystery.

“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar…you are familiar with all my ways…You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain…

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139

Sometimes you feel it. A cringing darkness. Things aren’t right. You don’t quite know what it is. Whispered on the news, pieces of abandoned papers scattered on the ground, children crying. What is going on in this world and why are people decaying? Why is there so much pain? You feel like it shouldn’t be this way. So much longing, people wounded vocally and physically. People hate one another. They hate. It’s not just a mild disliking, they want to kill each other. Something is wrong in this world, seeping in the hearts of men. We love being loved. We know we should. But why do we hurt each other? Why do we lie? So many problems in love. Divorces bubbling up every day. Miscommunication. Misunderstandings. Mistakes. People starving. We wake up and feel like we should just go back asleep. Curl up and die until the day is new again, until you feel excited to eat that bowl of cheerios and watch the TV and find something good happening in the world.

“For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”

We are not meant to be satisfied with this earth. Since the fall of man, since Adam and Eve, we’ve had the condition, the sickness whirling in our veins. It’s dark. And it makes us realize this world is not how it should be. We are all so evil and don’t even realize it. We are born with this vile strain. But only one thing can rescue us from the pit. It is as we recognize our depravity, as we realize we need to be washed from the film of our sorrowful condition. We want that darkness that straps us into our beds to be replaced with light. That light comes from the absorption of God, of his son Jesus, into our minds, souls, and hearts.

“Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

Look in the mirror. What do you see in those eyes? Are positive images sticking in your mind? Do you enjoy the way the world is?

Look to God. Look at the monstrosity in the world. It wasn’t God that brought war and sin into the world. It was us.

Check out this blog about news events in the world, you’ll see the conflicts:

Christian Viewpoint Blog