Forgiveness—God’s Business - Martin Wiles

I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. Exodus 34:7 NLT

Forgiveness is never easy, but when it involves the death of an unborn child, it becomes incredibly challenging.

A pastor friend in India shared a disturbing story with me. Hindu fanatics carrying pistols, rods, and knives entered a church, attacked the pastor, his seven-month pregnant wife, and their daughter, and then tried to set the wife on fire. Fortunately, the family escaped. Less than a month later, my friend emailed to tell me the wife’s unborn child had died in her womb—a result of injuries received during the attack. Now she has a forgiveness decision to make.

Throughout the Bible, God portrays himself as a forgiving God. While he has standards and will punish those who stubbornly break those standards, he is more than willing to forgive those who recognize their sins and run to him for help.

God never holds our past against us. I have a past, you have a past, all God’s creations have a past. We can’t erase it; we can only deal with it. I’ve known a few people who wouldn’t come to God for forgiveness because they thought their past was too sordid for him to forgive. Forgiveness is God’s business, and no sin in our past is greater than his ability and desire to forgive it. He willingly and joyfully forgives anything we ask him to.

Understanding why God can forgive makes it easier to request his forgiveness. If his forgiveness is based on our ability to compensate for the wrongs we’ve committed, we’ll never receive it. But God’s forgiveness is based on Jesus’ work on the cross, not our righteousness. Since Christ was perfect—and since his work on the cross was too--God can forgive any and all sin without violating his holy nature. The only condition is that we ask and believe.

God’s forgiveness has no limit—other than the limit we place on it by not asking. When Jesus told Peter, the disciple, that he should forgive someone seventy times seven times if they asked, Jesus offered what represented a limitless number. God operates the same way.

Believe God can forgive any sin you’ve committed. Then get on with serving Him.

Father, I thank you for your willingness to forgive when I come to you in repentance. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing. No one escapes life's hurts, but we can move beyond them to hope and healing. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Hated and Hunted - Martin Wiles

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Exodus 1:21 NLT

Being hated is one thing, but being hated and hunted is even worse. 

“If you are worshiping the Lord freely, if you live as a Christian without fear of attack, and if you can carry a Bible in your hands on the streets, then you are a blessed person,” a pastor friend said.

Before becoming a Christian, he had belonged to the Communist Party. But after becoming a believer, he dedicated his life to helping impoverished women and orphaned children in his native country. He also trains other ministers to help him spread the gospel in a country where many want nothing to do with Jesus Christ and will persecute—and even kill—those who do. 

In his homeland, many lose their lives, homes, jobs, and other precious things simply because they are Christians in a country that is not friendly to Christians. I remember the video he once sent showing a group of missionaries with Bibles in the trunk of their car. Nationalists stopped the missionaries, snatched the Bibles from the trunk, piled the Bibles on the ground, and set them afire. 

In many states of his country, the government has passed anti-conversion laws, making those who have converted to Christianity ineligible for government jobs, as well as prohibiting them from using other state facilities. Many churches are forcefully closed or burned, and many pastors are jailed on false charges. 

Fanatical conservatives stabbed one local pastor and his wife while their children attended school. They loathed him because he had planted five churches and invited nationalists to convert to Christianity. Despite the daily persecution, many in this country daily choose Christianity. 

I suppose the two Hebrew midwives who helped the Israelite women deliver their babies also felt hated and hunted. When a new king came to power, he saw how the Hebrew slaves multiplied and worried they might overthrow his kingdom. He ordered the midwives to kill all baby boys they delivered. But the midwives feared God more than the king and refused to obey his order. 

Following Christ entails being hated and hunted. Jesus said people would hate us because they hated Him. I’ve never experienced what my pastor friend and his friends experience. In my country, I can still worship freely without threat, but even in the land of the free and the home of the brave, the enemies of Christianity try to repress religious expression in subtle ways. 

When we find ourselves among the hated and hunted—to whatever extent that might entail—let’s remember God controls even the persecution and its forms. Persecution refines and strengthens our faith. It also leads us to seek wisdom from God, so we’ll know how to keep spreading the gospel amid the threats. At the very least, we can do what Jesus said: pray for our enemies so that they might open their eyes to the truth. 

And like the Hebrew midwives, we must stand firm and hold tightly to the truth, regardless of how intense the hatred and hunting might be—even if it leads to our death. In the end, truth will win, and a new heaven and earth will be our home. 

Make up your mind to stand firm for Christ, even when misunderstood, laughed at, avoided, or persecuted in other ways. 

Father, give us strength to stand fast when hated and hunted.

Tweetable: Are you hated and hunted for your faith? 

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.