Much Love and Much Forgiveness

Updates:

• Shirley’s shoulder continues to improve, please pray for total recovery.
• Vanessa brought her mom home from the hospital.

Praise Reports:

• Aubrey got back safely from Texas.
• Charlotte’s cataract surgery went very well.
• Jonathan was blessed with a digital drum set.

Prayer Requests:

• Levi is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in 2012. Please pray wisdom and safety for him.
• Lift up the Allen family, Rebecca, and the kids.
• Please pray for Kyle Kirkland and Robin, who is taking care of him. May God glorify Himself in this man’s life!
• Pray strength for Sandra.
• Remember Mary, Pam, Markus, and Byron in your prayers.
• Vanessa and her entire family are in need of prayer: strength, peace, wisdom, faith, love, and joy.

Flat Tire 1, a photo by mikepetrucci on Flickr.

Picture this--you're driving along and suddenly your tire goes flat.You don't have a jack or a spare tire, but fortunately one of your old friends sees you, stops by, and offers to fix it for you. You know he's not a Christian, but he is so enthusiastic to help, he gives you a big hug and insists on taking you to lunch. You can tell that this guy is just bubbling over with love. Afterwards, as you're saying good-bye, you want to say something that will bring him closer to God. You repeat Jesus's words to the sinful woman, "Your sins have been forgiven. Go in peace."

Would that be right? Do you have the authority to say that? Let's dig deeper.

Luke 7:36-50

Jesus said to the woman, "Your sins have been forgiven" (NASB). This is in the past tense, and all she had done (that we can see) was show great love toward Jesus Christ (no "getting right", no "conversion experience"). The love she showed was indicative of her sins having been forgiven.

vs. 50 "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." A show of love does not save an unbeliever, but it can show that they have a seed of faith within them. It could be that someone's heart knows the Truth, but their mind and soul rebel.

This presents us with a challenge--how do we represent Christ to the world? Simon the Pharisee could represent today's legalistic religious right; he would have taken one look at that sinful woman and pronounced judgment on her, demanding that she must change her ways before there would be any talk of forgiveness. Even if some of us don't go that far, we might be confused at the sight of pure love coming from a "sinner".

Jesus saw love coming from a sinner and it didn't confuse Him. When an atheist starts an orphanage or a Muslim reaches out to the poor in his community, we might say that these unbelievers' love is either not genuine, misguided, or for the wrong motivations. But is the character of love really different or changing? God is love and He is consistent, never changing. 

Jesus confidently pronounces that the woman's love is evidence of her forgiveness. So don't make the mistake of discounting love in unbelievers! Instead, we should be actively searching for that in them. If they have love that doesn't mean that they are saved, but God may not be far from them. We certainly shouldn't be looking for the unsaved to check off all the right "righteous boxes"; the key is in the love that they show. If you're wondering if God is working on an unbeliever's heart, just take a look at the love they are showing. Touching on this love, and reminding them that God is love and that they are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven, could do far more for someone than sheer "reasoning". This isn't a compromise, it's modeling Jesus.

Here's an eternal principle: much love = much forgiveness. What a ministry we could have if we just shared the love and forgiveness of God to those who do not know Him! Think about Matthew 18:18 and John 20:23. What do these verses mean?