What is the most valuable thing you own?  A car, a house, investments, something else?  How much have you spent on holding on to it, maintaining it, caring for it?  How long do you expect it to last? 10 years, 100, 1000?  Jesus once asked the question “What good is it if you gain the whole world, but lose your soul in the process?”  How much have you invested in your eternal life?  Does it come close to the time, money, and energy that you’ve spent on earthly stuff?  Do you have any treasure stored in heaven?  If not, now might be a good time to open an account with God.  So, what would you be willing to trade for an account in the Kingdom?  What if God told you it would cost you everything you have?

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Jesus said that the greatest love is shown when a person is willing to lay down his life for a friend.  I’ve heard so many true stories of people who gave their life to save somebody else or to save a group of people, and they’re always amazing.  I’ve often wondered how I would react in a similar situation.  If it was my family, like my wife or child, I’m sure there would be no hesitation to make that sacrifice for them.  But what about for a close friend, or an acquaintance, or a stranger, or even an enemy?  Yet that’s what Jesus did for us.   While we were still his enemies, Christ died to save us.  That is truly amazing, and it does demonstrate an amazing love.

So if the greatest love is shown by sacrificing your own life to save somebody else’s, then wouldn’t the greatest hate be to sacrifice somebody else’s life for the convenience of your own?  Have you ever thought about that–how unkind and uncaring and intensely selfish it would be to take someone else’s life simply to improve your comfort?  Can you imagine anyone being so calloused?  But it happens all the time.

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I don’t know how many times I have heard people talk about getting revenge.  “I am going to get them back!”  And I’m not talking about when you’re playing around or having water balloon fights or things like that.  I mean when people have taken serious offence to something, and they will not rest until they’ve had vengeance.  Why do people feel so passionate about causing someone else pain?  Do they really think that will end the cycle?  Do they really think the other person will passively accept retaliation without escalating the conflict?  And when I’ve asked, “Well why don’t you just forgive them?” it’s like asking them to cut off their own arm.  “FORGIVE THEM?!  I can’t forgive them!  Do you realize what they did to me?  I’ll forgive them after I get them back.”  So they wind up, whether they exact vengeance o r not, carrying around this baggage of anger and bitterness and animosity, and completely miss the opportunity for healing in any direction.

I think that’s why Jesus said if you don’t forgive other people when they hurt you, then he won’t forgive you for hurting him.  Think about the wicked choices people make that shatter their relationship with God.  You can probably list quite a few sins.  Think about what Jesus sacrificed his life for.  Without his forgiveness, you will never restore that relationship.  Basically Jesus said, “If you refuse to forgive, you will go to Hell.”  After all the pain you’ve caused your own Creator, who has a love for you the size of infinity and therefore can feel the pain of your selfish hatred more than you can imagine, you can’t be his friend if you can’t let a little of your own earthly pain slide.  It’s completely hypocritical to expect forgiveness if you’re not willing to give it.

So besides the fact that you risk your soul by not forgiving, you miss the chance for reconciliation with others.  You can build relationships through forgiveness.  You can introduce others to the grace of God because they got a taste of his forgiveness through your grace.  God likes a BIG family.  And if you can’t see fit to add more people to it by building relationships instead of denying them through unforgiveness, then you’ve got no place in the Kingdom of God.

How’s that make you feel?

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Most of us, as we’re growing up, learn all sorts of rules to live by–things we’re supposed to do, things we’re not supposed to do, and things we’re supposed to dream about and work for.  And it seems like somewhere along the way we forget the purpose of why we live the way we do and what we’re working for.  We somehow get the idea that having lots of toys or a big house or an important title will really make our hearts happy, and we trade off the things that could really bring happiness for stuff that is ultimately empty and unfulfilling.  So what is it that really makes life worth living?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:57 — 18.3MB)