Are You Forgiven? Do You Forgive?

 After 2,000 years science and psychology are finally catching up with the teachings of Jesus.  A recent article in the Washington Post reported that psychologists are discovering the power of forgiveness for health and well-being.  “A new analysis spanning more than 200,000 people across 23 countries and published in NPJ Mental Health Research, a Nature publication, found that forgiveness may be more than a moral ideal. It appears to function as a psychological ideal as well, across cultures.”[i]

 The article went on to say, “Scientists call this dispositional forgiveness, and the idea marks a growing shift in the field that researchers believe has the potential to reshape not only our family and romantic relationships, but also our workplaces — and even geopolitical dynamics. … what happens when forgiveness becomes an ordinary, practiced way of moving through the world.”

 Forgiveness is a major theme in Jesus’ teaching.  He taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  He concluded the model prayer by saying, “For if you forgive other people for their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive your offenses,” (Matthew 6:12, 14-15).

 Peter might have felt proud of himself when he asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”  Jesus’ response must have shocked him, “I do not say to you forgive up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven,” (Matthew 18:21-23 KJV).

 Following Peter’s question, Jesus told a story about a man who was deep in debt.  His master was going to have him sold, along with his wife and children to settle the debt.  He begged for mercy and his master forgave the debt entirely.  That same man found another who owed him a paltry sum. Instead of forgiving, as he had been forgiven, he attacked his debtor and had him thrown into prison.  When the master who forgave him found out, he said, “‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses,” (Matthew 18:23-35).

 From the Cross Jesus cried out, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” He gave His life that our sins might be forgiven. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,” (1 John 1:9).   We who have been forgiven must forgive others. Forgiveness is essential to all human relationships as well as our relationship to the Father.

 My wife and I have been married 57 years.  When people ask her the secret to a long marriage, she always quotes Ruth Bell Graham and says, “Two good forgivers.”

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[i] Washington Post, April 23, 2026

 

When God Calls Your Name

 For 14 years we were the owners of a tri-color Pembroke Corgi named Buddy.  We adopted him from Corgi Rescue, a stray picked up on the streets.  They told us his name was Tex.  But, when we got home, he told us his name was Buddy. His story is available on Amazon, Buddy The Floppy Ear Corgi, “just the way he told it to me.”  Unfortunately dogs don’t live as long as we do and we had to “lay him down” a few years ago.

 He knew his name. Whatever he was doing, whether napping (one of his favorite pass times) or checking out “pee mail” on a bush.  When I called his name his head jerked up with ears alert and he came.  

 Sometimes he came when I first called him, running at top speed, which was not all that fast.  Sometimes he loitered around, distracted by new smells and sounds. So I called him again.  Occasionally I had to clap my hands.  Sometimes he came at a very slow walk, grudgingly. But he eventually came when I called.

 It seems to me that I am a lot like that with God.  There are times when I sense God’s call, and I come running. But there are other times when I am distracted by other interests, worries and concerns.  I don’t listen for his voice as I should, and I don’t come as quickly as I should.  Sometimes I come grudgingly.

 When I was a child my parents took me to church.  At the end of every service the church offered an “invitation.”   We all stood and sang a song while the preacher waited at the front to talk with anyone who wanted to make a decision for Christ.  Sometimes we sang an old hymn.

 Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling

Calling for you and for me

Patiently Jesus is waiting and watching

Watching for you and for me.

 

Come home.  Come home.

You who are weary come home.

Earnestly and tenderly Jesus is calling,

Calling, O sinner, come home!

 One day, I let go of the pew in front of me and went forward.  Those first few steps made all the difference. When He called, I came.  Ever since that day, I have been listening for His voice. I have never heard God speak audibly, though I do not doubt God can speak audibly to whomever He chooses. For me, it is an inner voice.  Sometimes His voice acts like a compass, pointing the way forward.

  Even when we wander away, drawn away by smells and sounds of the world, He is always calling, waiting and watching for us to come home to God.

 Jesus said, “The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. … I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”     (John 10:2-3, 14-15).

 In Psalms the Bible says, “He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.”  (Psalm 147:3-4).  God knows your name. He knows mine.  If we listen, we can hear him calling.

Earth Lessons From Space

 Last Friday, April 10, Artemis 2 safely returned to earth. Their 10-day voyage took them deeper into space than any human has traveled, and, like others before left them spellbound by the sight of our fragile planet. Astronaut Christina Koch described her experience viewing earth from afar: “I found myself noticing not only the beauty of the Earth, but how much blackness there was around it … It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive, …  we have some shared things about how we love and live that are just universal.”

 The war with Iran was launched the day before Artemis 2 lifted off. It quickly escalated to threats of annihilation, nuclear and counter nuclear threats from Israel, China and Pakistan, global economic inflation.

 Our first landing on the moon in 1969 was likewise a turbulent time. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy had been gunned down the year before. Vietnam was at its height. 11,616 American GIs died in Vietnam in 1969. Protests were spreading across the country. Four unarmed students were killed by the National Guard at Kent State in 1970.  We were 4 years away from the oil embargo that quadrupled the price of gas and 5 years away from Watergate.

In the midst of the chaos, we left a human footprint on the moon. 

 

For most of my life that moment has remained a symbol of the indomitable human spirit, our aspiration and determination to do the impossible, to literally reach for the stars. Most of us assumed that we would return. It seemed entirely plausible that we would have a base on the moon by the end of the century.  But, 50 years later, the Apollo footprints remain undisturbed.

 Many of us felt humbled in the face of our fragile yet beautiful existence.  The astronauts not only taught us courage and discipline, they inspired us with awe and faith. John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth. When asked about his experience, Glenn said, “To look at this kind of creation out here and not to believe in God to me is impossible.”

 On Christmas Eve, 1968, with the desolate lunar landscape beneath and the earth rising like a marvelous marble of life on the lunar horizon, Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders took turns reading the Genesis account of creation. (Genesis 1:1-10).  Prior to exiting the lunar lander 18 months later, Armstrong and Aldrin paused while Buzz Aldrin, an elder in the Presbyterian Church, took communion and prayed. 

 Thomas Friedman includes an account about Neil Armstrong’s visit to Jerusalem years later.  According to Friedman, when Armstrong visited the Temple in Jerusalem in 2007 he asked his guide if these were the very steps where Jesus stepped.  When his guide confirmed they were, Armstrong reportedly said, “I have to tell you, I am more excited stepping on these steps than I was stepping on the moon.”

 Half a century after the Apollo 11 landing, we can appreciate even more the words of David, “When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; what is man that you take thought of him, and the son of man, that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than God, and you crown him with glory and majesty!  You make him to rule over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet” (Psalm 8:3-6). 

When God Seems Far Away

There are times when God seems very near.  We feel his forgiveness, acceptance, comfort and peace.  Our hearts are filled with joy and songs of praise for His goodness and beauty. But what about the times when God seems far away?

King David sometimes felt this way.  Repeatedly he asked, “Why are you in despair, O my soul?  And why have you become disturbed within me?” (Ps 42:5, 11; 42:5).  “O Lord, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?” (Ps 88:14).  After confronting the prophets of Baal, “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life … he went a day’s journey into the wilderness … and prayed that he might die.  ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life, I am no better than my ancestors.’” (1 Kings 19:3).

 Going through times when we feel God is far away is a normal human experience. The prophets felt it.  God even allowed his own Son to experience it.  When Jesus hung upon the cross He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

 So, when those times come, what are we to do? When we feel God is far away, we are often filled with worry, uncertainty, doubt and despair.  But this will not last.  We will yet feel His presence again and praise Him. Our feeling that God is distant is temporary. This is what sustained King David in his dark times. In every case, he declared, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him.”  

 We must rely on God’s promises and not on our feelings. Even when we don’t feel His presence, He is near. Repeatedly God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deut. 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5).  Jesus said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).  David wrote, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day.”  (Ps. 139:7-12).                  

We must continue to do everything that is right and good in His sight.  One of Jesus’ favorite parables was the story of a wealthy landowner who left for a long trip.  In his absence, some of his servants decided he wasn’t coming back and began to abuse his property, doing things they knew the landowner would never condone.  But the landowner returned, and when he did, there was a reckoning.  The real evidence of our faith is not what we do when we feel His presence and know He is near. The real evidence of our faith is what we do when we feel God is far away. 

Bill Tinsley's book, The Jesus Encounter is free April 7-10, eBook on Amazon. Stories of people in the Bible who met Jesus.