Matthew West - Into The LightSample

[The video portion of this devotional is not available on your device. To view this video, visit your plan at www.youversion.com] The Power of Forgiveness From Renee… I never understood why God would ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the son he waited so long to have. I always hoped He would never require such a sacrifice of me. The love a parent has for a child is like no other. God blessed me with three daughters (the last two are identical twins). I love my children with all my heart and could never imagine living without one of them. I now have a mission I did not choose: DUI presentations. On May 11, 2002, a 24-year-old drunk driver named Eric killed one of my twins, Meagan, and one of her friends, Lisa. Both girls were 20 years old. This was devastating for all three families involved and for countless friends who mourned the loss of these precious girls. But this is also a story of forgiveness and healing. My family and Lisa’s family chose to forgive Eric. We even appealed to have his 22-years prison sentence reduced to 11 years. Since March 29, 2004 I have traveled all over the country, telling this story to thousands of people, mostly teenagers. I always talk about forgiveness because we have learned how powerful it is for everyone. Eric told me he has his eternal salvation because of Meagan and Lisa. I show a video of him in my presentations and will soon have him standing with me, a living, breathing example of the dangers of drunk driving and the power of forgiveness. Matthew Responds… I cannot think of a more vivid, modern-day example of the power of forgiveness than Renee’s story. No parent should ever have to face what she did. Being a parent myself, the thought of receiving a phone call with the horrifying news that my child’s life had been taken is too horrible to wrap my mind around. And yet that has become Renee’s reality. A drunk driver who never should have been behind the wheel of a car that night senselessly killed her beloved daughter. Few would blame Renee for any resentment or even hatred she may harbor toward this criminal, who stole her daughter away from her. Even the most gracious seem to have their limits. Many would say she has a right to hold a grudge. After all, the young man was found guilty by a judge and jury. Even the law is on Renee’s side. Yet somehow, she has found it in her heart to extend the hope of forgiveness to this guilty man who took the life of her daughter, and both of their lives changed as a result. If you are anything like me, reading Renee’s story may have left you a bit conflicted. One of my first thoughts was, “I’m not sure I could do the same.” I thought about how much I love my daughters. My flesh tells me that if someone took them away from me the way Eric took Meagan and Lisa, forgiveness would be impossible. And while I am being honest, I should probably confess that I have a hard enough time forgiving the person who cut in front of me at the grocery store checkout, or even my wife when we find ourselves at odds, let alone someone who has done irreparable harm to myself or my family. Yes, unfortunately, holding a grudge is something I do quite well. How about you? Is there someone in your life who wronged you? Maybe a relationship that has been severed because a lie was told or trust betrayed? Or perhaps you relate to Renee’s story. Having been wronged by a complete stranger, you hold on to a deep resentment that you carry with you every moment of every day. Maybe someone has stolen away something or someone so precious to you that you can never get back. Big or small, forgiveness can be a seemingly impossible bridge to cross. Philip Yancey, in his book What’s So Amazing About Grace?, describes forgiveness as an unnatural act. I could not agree more: “I never find forgiveness easy, and rarely do I find it completely satisfying. Nagging injustices remain, and the wounds still cause pain. I have to approach God again and again, yielding to Him the residue of what I thought I had committed to Him long ago. I do so because the Gospels make clear the connection: God forgives my debts as I forgive my debtors.”* Forgiveness makes little sense when we are the ones being asked to forgive. It goes against everything we feel inside when we are the wronged party. And being the flawed humans we are, we do have our limits. However, when we are the only ones in need of forgiveness, well, isn’t that quite a different story? C.S Lewis wrote, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” Let us always be mindful of our deep and endless need for forgiveness, and grateful for the limitless forgiveness that is extended to us through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Let us be grateful that He did not wait for us to make the first move. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He initiated forgiveness of our sins, and in doing so, released its healing power into the lives of all who accept. By forgiving Eric, Renee has made a choice to humbly follow the example Christ set for us, and God has used her step of faith to release healing into both of their lives, leading Eric to find his own personal freedom in Christ. And what is it about Renee that would allow her to see her perpetrator through eyes of grace and not anger? When our hearts and souls are awakened to the need of forgiveness in our own lives, we will be more inclined to see our enemies through eyes of compassion. Jesus laying down His life for our sins is the truest example of how we should forgive others. And the reward for forgiveness is great. “Forgiveness is a rebirth of hope, a reorganization of thought, and a reconstruction of dreams. Once forgiving begins, dreams can be rebuilt. When forgiving is complete, meaning has been extracted from the worst of experiences and used to create a new set of moral rules and a new interpretation of life’s events.”** This is the reward Renee has been blessed to discover. Yes, she still hurts. Yes, she still misses her daughter. But forgiveness can bring hope to our hopeless tragedies and freedom from the burden of resentment. Lewis B. Smedes wrote, “When we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free and then discover that the prison we set free was us.”*** Set yourself free. Carry Renee’s story with you this week and ask God to help you follow His example of forgiveness toward someone who has wronged you. *Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 93. **Beverly Flanigan, Forgiving the Unforgivable (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 1994), 29. ***Lewis B. Smedes, Shame and Grace (New York: HarperOne, 1994), 141. Get ‘The Power of Forgiveness’ at TheOverflow.com What a Thank-You Can Do From Candy… I was a small-town girl raised in a coal-mining town in Pennsylvania. At the age of 18, I moved by myself to Washington, DC. I was in DC for a little more than a year and messed up my life with guys, alcohol and drugs. But then one day while I was hitchhiking, God saved me. I prayed the sinner’s prayer with a person who picked me up, not even really understanding what I was doing. But the Holy Spirit came to me, and I could feel Him saying, “You are a new creation now.” That day I started a change in my life. I started praying, reading my Bible, and going to church three times a week. It’s been almost 38 years since that day. “Thank You, God for saving me and transforming me. Thank You for rescuing this alcoholic. Thank You for redeeming this drug addict. Thank You for forgiving this prostitute. Thank You for giving me a wonderful husband of 32 years and keeping my life on a straight course. Thank You! Thank You! Lord, thank You!” Matthews Responds… My youngest daughter, Delaney, is becoming quite the little talker. She’s not quite two years old and attempts to carry on conversations with us all day long. Of course, we only understand every third word or so (just as if we were listening to Ozzy Osbourne). But it sure seems to make sense to her. One phrase comes through crystal clear, however: “Thank You.” Well the T’s and Y’s sound a lot like D’s, so it comes out more like “Dank dou,” But for Delaney, “Thank You” seems to be a response for all occasions. “Delaney, did you have a nice nap?” “Dank dou.” “No, no, Delaney – no climbing into the dishwasher.” “Dank dou.” “Oh, Delaney, that is one stinky diaper!” “Dank dou.” Crazy, I know, but perhaps Delaney is on the right track by making “Thank You” her go-to response. Judging from Candy’s story, I bet she would agree. Her story jumped out to me among the thousands I read because of the sheer number of times she wrote the words thank You. One minute she was telling me her story, and the next minute she breaks into a prayer of thanksgiving to God. I could just picture sitting down with Candy and hearing the story of her life in person. I picture her eyes going back and forth from me to heaven every time she says another “Thank You!” Thorton Wilder wrote, “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” One glance at Candy’s story and you can tell that she is living her life conscious of her treasures, and her heart is filled with gratitude. Is yours? Are you quick to give thanks or to complain? I know what my answer is to that question. Hands down, I complain first. If there were an Olympics for complainers, I would be standing on the center podium accepting the gold medal. I’m the kind of person who can have nine out of ten things in my life going amazingly well, and guess what I will choose to focus on? Without fail, my mind focuses solely on the one thing that is still not quite where I think it should be to be deemed worthy of my gratitude. If you can relate, then we’ve got to try a different approach. Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!” An unthankful heart is at risk of missing out on all that a thankful heart has to offer to your story. Now, thanking God for the good things is usually not that much of a challenge. Thanking God for the negative circumstances is much less natural. Yet the Bible does not say we should give thanks only in good times. Instead it challenges us, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” How can that be? Thankful for my blessings? Piece of cake. Thankful for my problems? Houston, we have a problem. Why is it so important to be thankful for our problems? Because when we thank God, our focus shifts from the problem to the solution. To thank God for our problems is to trust that He is big enough to come through for us in any and every circumstance. And the only way to achieve this grateful attitude is to spend time daily in the presence of God. There, in the light of His presence, our problems and circumstances slowly drift into the background as heavenly peace gently alters our perspective. Practice thankfulness today. Start your quiet time in God’s presence by lifting up gratitude to His great name: • Thank Him for all He has done. “[I will] daily add praise to praise. I’ll write a book on your righteousness, talk up your salvation the livelong day, never run out of good things to write or say” (Psalm 71:14-15 MSG) • Thank Him for all He is going to do. “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). • Thank Him for His saving grace. “It is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:8) • Thank Him for being God. “If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) Thank Him for stories like Candy’s that remind us that we too have so much to be thankful for. Thank Him for bringing the meaning and joy to every chapter in the story of your life. Practice this attitude of thanks in His presence today, and you will discover like Delaney did that “Thank You” is indeed a response for all occasions. Get ‘What a Thank-You Can Do’ at TheOverflow.com