For Christ’s Sake

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32

This is the last verse of Ephesians chapter four and the first line of my exhortation to you, my Beloved Family. This is one of those “Kingdom culture” statements that the epistles are brimming with. I pray that your week has been filled with favor and that the days to come will be overflowing with grace!

Notice, the last part of this verse shows us the kind of forgiveness we are to have for one another. “Even as God for Christ’s sake…” is the description and illustration of what our forgiveness should look like. Please deeply reconsider this radical premise, “for Christ’s sake.” Something that is hard to wrap our thinking around is that the Father has dispensed near-infinite and near-universal forgiveness to mankind in response to the self-less sacrifice and redemptive actions of Jesus. It seems that the Father has an enormous amount of honor, value, and wisdom for the atonement of His Son, and has required all of Heaven to operate in congruence with those truths. Additionally, the Father requires us to submit, in humility, to that same culture He is presently operating in.

Bitterness is the fully ripened fruit of unforgiveness. Bitterness will, without exception, destroy every area of a person’s life, health, soul, and future. The scriptures are abundantly clear on it, and I have lived a lifetime observing it, over and over again! In many instances, the bitter victims were good and nice people, trying hard to have some Christian victory, often confused about why they are not growing, regularly frustrated, or even traumatized, about not seeing the promises of God realized. Eventually, they become secretly angry with God because they judge, or conclude, Him unfaithful to them. Yet, like almost all problems, the real issue is not a “fruit” problem but a “root” problem. The fruit is bitterness, the root is unforgiveness… specifically not forgiving in the God-kind-of-way.

This is what has produced the seething and boiling-over vileness that has become, “normal,” and, “acceptable,” in today’s society. The anger and rage that is being promoted in media, politics, entertainment, and a divorce/quit-philosophy culture is only growing more extreme with every passing news cycle. Abusing children went from being detestable, to being acceptable, to being promoted; and, now is being mandated by the government. When a person is abused and violated in their young and innocent years, the seed for bitterness is jammed into their heart and nurtured with the hopelessness of knowing that the ones who are supposed to be their protectors have now become their violators. This removes the opportunity for redemption and liberation because when you abuse someone in the name of, “love,” or, “God,” or, “good,” the avenues of salvation become blockaded with trees of bitterness. Their Savior is a loving God, but both love and God have been redefined by their abuser. This happens with purposeful intention by the enemy of humanity through broken, abused, and unforgiven people.

Unforgiven people produce unforgiven people.

Abused people abuse people.

Bitter people make bitter people.

But…

Healthy people make healthy people.

Loved people love people.

Forgiven people forgive people… like God… for Christ’s sake.

It is Kingdom Culture.

Hebrews 12:15
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble [you], and thereby many be defiled.

Look again at that last part… “and thereby MANY be defiled”. It’s communicable… contagious… infectious.

So is forgiveness!

The way this evil seed gets into our heart is by the purposeful planting of the enemy through other people and circumstances in this fallen, corrupt world. But, the way that our Heavenly Father gets His seeds into our heart is through people and testimonies (circumstances) of the Kingdom culture that He invites all believers into. The pathway of these good seeds into our life and heart is GRACE. When someone fails at allowing grace to do its divine job, the root of bitterness is fertilized. When a humble believer submits to the working of grace, the Kingdom grows in them. When it grows in one of us, it can spread to all of us!

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:14, 16

The narrow road for us all to enter into the fullness of THE Great Awakening is straightly in the center of grace. And, we see that grace is the fullness of Christ working in us singularly and corporately… “we have ALL received”! (Do you know what “all” means in the Greek?)

Let us be these people, Beloved… the people who are full of forgiveness and grace… lovingly transmitting our culture upon the unsuspecting, bitter people in the dark world. Let us do this for Christ’s sake and in Christ’s way.

I love you passionately!
Steve