Are You Kidding Me???
Mt. 18: 15-19 NIV
Purpose: To seriously
forgive means to trust in God that we can move forward in life with no shame,
regrets, and knowing that we can do better every day.
15 “If your brother or sister[a] sins,[b] go and point out their fault, just
between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.
16 But if they will not listen, take
one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the
testimony of two or three witnesses.’[c]
17 If they still refuse to listen, tell
it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them
as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind
on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two
of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by
my Father in heaven.
Footnotes:
- Matthew 18:15 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman; also in verses 21 and 35.
- Matthew 18:15 Some manuscripts sins against you
- Matthew 18:16 Deut. 19:15
- Matthew 18:18 Or will have been
Matthew 18:18
Or will have been
This
is the Word of God
for
the people of God.
Praise
be to God.
Amen.
Are You Kidding Me???
Mt. 18: 15-19 NIV
Purpose: To seriously
forgive means to trust in God that we can move forward in life with no shame,
regrets, and knowing that we can do better every day.
Do you remember when you were a little toddler, how we used to believe in
everything that adults told us? Actually, we believed what other little toddles told us too.
Sometimes, I wish, I could be a toddler again. Have you wished the same? Have
you imagined to be as wise as we are now but with the energy, innocence, and
beauty of our young years? Our little world didn’t have any worries and you
know why??? Because we really trusted
that our caregivers were going to provide for us. We really believed that
our world was good and forgiving. We had our homes that were our shelters. We had our meals that avoided hunger in our
body and mind. We had friends and toys that they were our partners in our
fictional adventures. We didn’t have to worry about meetings with our bosses.
Or paying taxes. Or worries about the economy, Or our retirement. Or our
mortgage. Or our health. Or worries about our next president. We just lived the moment and we were full
of joy and hope. If something was wrong in our little world, then we used
to forgive and forget. Move on people!!!!We
believed that always there was someone or something that was reliable, good,
honest, and effective.[1]
We knew that our needs were going to be covered. We had this golden feeling
that is so rare in nowadays: trust.
What has happened in our little
world? Where is this comforting feeling of trust that we cannot find easily?
Where did it go? Did it go away? Where, in our life journey we left it behind? The reality is that we don’t have it
anymore. We don’t have trust anymore. Sadly, remember that we carry our distrust
also before God. If we don’t trust in good things can happen to us, then we can
trust that God is going to do whatever He says He is going to do in our
situations.
Actually, what has happened, is that
our life experiences have been hard enough and constantly negative, that our
little inner child which should be very alive inside us, has been lost. We need
to find her/him. We cannot lose our
inner child trust. When we lose our inner-trust-child, we lose the positive
and contagious energy that is attractive inside us.
I want to be sure that I am
explaining myself well. I am not talking of being an immature adult, a childish
in the sense to be irresponsible with our words and our behavior or
irresponsible with our healthy boundaries or responsibilities as healthy
functional adults in society. I am
talking of the blind trust that a child has. We also have to pay attention
that we are a mixture between reason and feelings and that the right action is
going to lead us to become more and more like Christ. In other words, our
actions do not have to target only to our own good. Our actions have to be
pointed to the good of the family, of the good the church, and of the society
with foundation in the teachings of the Bible.
Here, is where the things start becoming very complicated. Why? Because we cannot obtain any good in
us if we don’t trust in God. Someone can say, But Claudia, we believe in God.” Yes, all of us believe in God, but do we
really trust in God???” The trust that I am talking, is the same trust that
Jesus tells us in the beginning of this chapter, chapter 18.
In the beginning of chapter 18, after
calling a child to come close to Him. Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change
and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Mat. 18:3).” We need to pay close
attention to Jesus sayings in the Bible.
We have to have a blind trust if
we want to become Christ for this broken world, if we want to have a permanent
peaceful and joyful life, and if we want to spread the Kingdom of God. Do you know, that one of the meanings of
blind is to have difficulty in understanding? Understanding, the good will
of God for our lives.
Here is another very difficult
passage that God gave me to work with, in this past week. Here is Jesus
teaching and talking with His disciples. One of the most important things that
Jesus wanted His disciples to understand was trust but trust based on forgiveness.
Think for a moment about it, for some reason forgiveness and trust are such an
important issue for God. It is so important that Jesus included it in the Lord’s
Prayer, “And forgive us
our debts, as
we also have forgiven our debtors” (Mt. 6:12).
Sometimes, we think that forgiveness
can be done just one and that’s it. We can move to the next thing. Other times,
we just ignore the hurting and try to keep moving in life. But, the reality is that forgiveness cannot be done just as one
unimportant event and move on. The reality is that forgiveness is an ongoing
process.
It is an ongoing process in the sense
that if someone or something triggers our memory about the situation that we
need to forgive, our mind can be tricky, and takes us again to the situation or
to the person which we want to forgive. The, what do we need to do? To trust as a child and really try to let it go.
It is not easy. As an adult we can think over and over about the issue that
bother us. The only thing that we are going to accomplish is, to make it bigger
and bigger.
On the other hand, it is true that
many times, when something is not confronting, with love and understanding, can
easily become big. Here, Jesus is challenging our human nature. Our tendency is
to be more inclined to be hurt. It is a
reality that each one of us has been experienced a deep hurt in our lives. For
example, when someone has been unfaithful, or when we have been the subject of
a gossip for something that we didn’t do or say, or what about when someone has
stolen from us, or lied about us or to us. Or what about we have made such
mistakes that we cannot forgive ourselves. The list can be endless. The point
is that each one of us has something or someone to forgive.
Are you familiar with the saying, I forgive you but I don’t forget what
you have done to me!!! Well, this popular saying is complicated. One important point is that we cannot forget because if we forget then
we cannot learn. How are we going to keep learning in life . . . If we forget
the experience. However, here is the
difficult part, someone thinks, “I have learned from my sour experience with
such and such situation or with such and such person, now what???” Well, if we really forgive then we are able
to remember with no hurting, with no feeling sorry, and with no disappointment
or shame. Real forgiveness takes us
to other level of maturity. The divine level of God. God has chosen to apply
real forgiveness in our lives because He doesn’t want to remember our wrong
doings.
Real forgiveness, makes us free from any emotional or spiritual fear to
be hurt again. Here is when we apply blind trust. When we really forgive, it is when we
truly move forward in life. We growth. And, we know, we know inside us, when
this happen to us. Sadly, not so many people can experience real forgiveness in
their lives. That is why are so many people emotionally stuck and spiritually trapped
in their lives.
So, Jesus keeps telling us that
whatever you bind in earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on
earth will be loosed in heaven. We are very important for God. Relationships
are important for God. When we trust and forgive. It doesn’t mean that we have to make the person who hurt us our best
friend. That means, that in our heart compassion has taken the place of hurt,
and suspiciousness and doubt has been changed for blind trust. Adult
Compassion and adult trust are not easy human inclinations. They are more the
product of a relationship with Jesus. That means, compassion and trust are
divine inclinations and more after difficult life experiences in this broken
world.
My dear ones, the difficult teachings of Jesus are possible to reach,
only when we decide to change our adult and distorted minds into the childlike
minds that Jesus highlights. It is when we can really trust and forgive over
and over again.
Let us pray,
Dear and Good Father
You want us to really trust and to
permanently forgive. But, it is very difficult to do it. The true is that very
often, the hurt is very deep and forgiveness and trust seem to be impossible to
reach. You need to help us to reach such difficult goals in our spiritual lives
because honestly we want to become more and more as Jesus Christ is. In His
name, we pray. Amen.
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