Mercy & Forgiveness

Last night someone showed me something real. Something that blew my socks off.

After Celebration Night I gave Liane a ride home, and the went inside to talk to her dad about his truck that I hit on sunday night. With Liane interpreting, I told him I was sorry, and that I would pay for it. His reply was something like "alles forgessen" which to my limited understanding of German means "all is forgotten". I didn't know what to say. I said 'no, I hit your truck, I'll pay for it'. He said it again, 'alles forgessen'.

It is truly a humbling thing to receive mercy. In my pride, I would have rather heard him say 'ok, you can pay for it'.

This is exactly how we are toward God. When Jesus was crucified, he cried out "It is finished" meaning he had taken care of the debt we owe God because of our sin. But in an effort to keep our pride intact, we would rather say to him "that's great, but I know you don't really mean it, so I'll do all these good things for you, and then you can accept that as payment for my sin".
Wrong-o! That defeats the whole point of his gift as one of mercy...not receiving the punishment we should have.

Well, I don't think I will ever forget what Mr. Nikel said to me. Hopefully I can be just as gracious to those around me. I couldn't help thinking 'what would I have done in his shoes?' My car doesn't mean a lot to me, so it would be easy for me to say 'no big deal...don't worry about it'...but what if it was something I cared a lot about, like my guitar, my bike, my camera...or my family?

How do we forgive someone who has hurt us big time? I think the only thing we can do is remember what it cost God to forgive us. It cost him his son.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." - John 3:16 & 17

On another note, Celebration Night was awesome. They had the place all lit up with candles, and it was all accoustic...just Ryan on guitar, Heather on piano, and Davis on the hand drum. It was really cool. Someone read something that really got me thinking, but I don't have time to write about it now, so maybe tomorrow.

The weather was so gorgeous yesterday, I decided to sleep outside. So I set up the tent on the deck, and got all snuggled up in a few sleeping bags. It was great! I miss summer.