We never have to die for our sins, Christ did that for us. We must die, be broken and obedient as we forgive the sinful wrongs others have perpetrated against us. You say, “Hold it that is something only Christ can do. He’s the Son of God, that is his special mission and He fulfilled it perfectly.” God gave every believer this ministry and this message of reconciliation. He says it plainly and then plainly states that if you do not follow him this way you are not His disciple and you have no part in His ministry.
You must have a personal theology (defined as your personal philosophy of your spiritual life) that will sustain you when you there is no time to go through a spiritual inventory or reach someone else to explain things or assist you.
Your personal theology must never be based on your personal strength. If that were so you would only have to find what it is you are already good at and perfect it with your own human abilities and natural instincts. This is doomed to failure.
Fully understanding the forgiveness of God is fundamental to a personal theology. The glory of God is interwoven and expressed in forgiveness. You cannot know what it means to forgive until you know the greatness of God’s glory.
Matthew 27:50-54
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
The tearing of the veil revealed God’s glory to everyone in all the earth forever. The bursting forth from the grave of dead men is the testimony of God’s power and glory. There has never been one degree of separation between man and God’s glory since that moment and there never shall be. This greatest gift came to us through His humble obedient blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sin. Those who refuse to forgive as the Lord has forgiven them deny His glory, trample underfoot the cross, insult the Holy Spirit and treat the blood covenant as unholy. Hebrews 10:29.
No one is instinctively good at forgiveness, it never originates with you. You can only offer that which has been given to you. Forgiveness is a learned behavior and attitude.
To forgive may require every last ounce of physical and spiritual strength you possess. All that is in you and all the evil in the world may be aligned together to stop you from forgiving another. You must beat all of that and forgive in obedience to God.
To consciously build your personal theology on God’s forgiveness will require you to examine the hard places of your soul, consisting of your mind will and emotions. Areas of your life and personal experience will be shaken and broken.
If you do not think you have a personal theology, you are wrong, you have one that is undeveloped and it will lead you into disaster because you cannot explain it, which means you cannot act upon it. You have not nurtured it to make it your own, which means that you and others and the kingdom of God will suffer great loss when trouble strikes.
If you have not taken time to develop a personal theology you are most likely not walking in a forgiving spirit and you may be in rebellion to God.
God has ordained every believer with a ministry of reconciliation. It is very dangerous to have an ordained ministry without a personal theology.
You must know who He is and that He did what He said he would do. You must know the word of God. The word has mastery over all things and it makes absolute demands upon every believer.
You must be prepared to submit to the word in godly obedience.
A good foundation therefore is that God died and rose to save the whole world; there is a way for anyone to come to Him that way is forgiveness. He loves you and intercedes for you constantly at the throne of God. You can always trust your life in the hands of just and loving God. You must forgive others as He forgave you.
The ministry of reconciliation is not one of jumping out of boats and walking on water. For reconciliation you must walk the mean dirty streets of life take the hits, get treated like a cockroach and forgive those who treat you that way without flinching.
2012 c
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