|
Now that the message of peace
on earth is neatly packed away with the Christmas
decorations, it??™s time for our yearly lapse into
business as usual. Though totally inconsistent
with the reason for the season we??™ve just come
through, this is too often what happens and it??™s
time to do something about it.
What we really need is an old
fashioned January thaw.
Let??™s thaw the frigid
feelings that divide us and make us ineffective in
conveying God??™s great invitation to receive His
gift of forgiveness and personal peace.
A century ago, the world
known evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, said there are
two ways for people to be united: ???melted together
and frozen together.??? He saw love as the melting
agent that breaks down barriers and brings people
together in a way that benefits churches and
individuals. He rejected cold, formal,
relationships that give an impression of unity but
are powerless to do anything of lasting value.
Loveless religious wheel
spinning is not new and its paralyzing effect on
churches and communities is explained in the Bible
as follows: ???Though I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, but have not love, I have
become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal (1
Corinthians 13:1). In other words, no matter how
eloquently we speak, we will be weak without love.
Love makes forgiveness
possible. And a free flow of forgiveness would
revitalize most congregations. Barriers erected
long ago would fall. Divisions would disappear;
harmful gossip would end. Icy stares would be
replaced by warm acceptance and time now spent
catering to different factions within churches
could be given to bringing the best news of all to
this troubled world.
While visiting neighbors in
the rural community where my first church was
located, I told a woman about God??™s love. She
explained that she would like to become a believer
but would not do so since she was sure her husband
would never join her in this decision of faith.
He was bitter toward members of his family because
of a misunderstanding at the death of his mother
and had vowed never to forgive them. In her view,
there was no hope of her husband changing his
attitude and therefore no hope for either him or
her to be forgiven. After assuring her that God
could enable her husband to forgive those he felt
had wronged him, I went on my way.
Months passed before this
family surprised me by arriving at a church
service and on that first visit they both
responded in faith to God??™s love. On that day, I
made no mention of the serious problem that had
divided them from their estranged family members,
nor did they, but within a few weeks they traveled
to Chicago to let relatives there know they had
come to forgive them and be reconciled.
How could these who had been
wounded so deeply forgive when they had vowed
never to do so? How could this troubled man put
away his bitterness? How could one who had been
so cold now warmly embrace those who had wronged
him? How could this woman who had shared her
husband??™s pain now forgive those who had caused
it?
There is but one answer: The
warmth of God??™s love had melted their malice.
They could now love because they knew they were
loved; they could forgive because they knew they
had been forgiven.
You can forgive too. And
your warm hearted example may raise the spiritual
temperature of your church enough to bring about
the greatly needed January thaw. |
