It is important for me to always remember that I need to keep myself in check and watch my mouth. No matter how angry I am, I need to take it to prayer.
I need to check myself now. There is no need for me to take my complaints to others on this earth, their is only one entity that I should take them to. GOD. He loves me and he wants only good for me. But he loves everyone else too. He is trying to bring good to everyone. He wants all of us to walk this earth in his image. So I need to tame my tongue. Which it appears, for those who know me, is a major work in progress. But if I truly want God to make me all that I was meant to be, then I need to follow ALL of his commandments. And murdering someone else’s image by talking about them is not allowed in his Kingdom.
Today in church they talked about removing the log in your own eye before removing the speck in others. I had that issue A MAJOR ISSUE.
You see, I was blinded by intense anger for a lot of years. There are a lot of reasons for that anger that I won’t go into here. That does’t matter anymore. The reasons for the anger are gone. However, during my darkest times, I was trying to remove specks in other people’s eyes while I was blinded to my own anger (my log). I felt that other people were living selfishly and that they were mean to other people. I tried to call them out. I’m not sure if I was necessarily wrong in my observations; however, the way that I was going about informing other people of the infractions was not useful. I was being judgmental and hurtful and other people just didn’t hear me. ALL THEY SAW WAS AN ANGRY PERSON.
I fell on my sword and crucified myself.
Jesus is the ultimate leader in forgiveness. He, after all, came down to earth to teach us how to live. During lent this year, I was enamored – almost obsessed with Peter. Peter was kinda like me. He sorta acted before he thought about things. He cut off a guys ear for gosh sakes. Simon Peter told Jesus he would NEVER hurt him. Jesus told him that he would in fact deny him three times before the cock crowed. And Jesus was right. Jesus was never wrong about anything. SHOW OFF.
Peter lived in shame after that fateful day. I always wondered why it was so MUCH shame, I mean – he WAS fearing for his life when he denied Jesus. But then I read something this morning:
John 13:1 – Now before the feast of Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And during the supper, the devil having put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, SIMON’s SON, to betray him………….
There are at least three other spots in the Bible that reference that Judas was the son of Simon Peter. If I was a biblical scholar, I would cite them all for you here. But I am not, and I am a little lazy today so I won’t. But I should – since I just listened to a YouTube Post in which an actual biblical scholar told them all to me.
Jesus washed all of 12 of his disciples feet. KNOWING. Knowing that they would scatter at his darkest hour. HE STILL CHOSE TO SERVE THEM AND WASH THEIR FEET. Even though he KNEW they were all going to be selfish.
So not only did Simon Peter deny his beloved friend, but his VERY SON was the one that kissed his master and caused his death. THAT IS A LOT TO LIVE WITH. Judas ended up killing himself; however, the actual cause of death is still questioned today.
When Jesus came back from the dead (the second or third time – again – not really sure, not a biblical scholar) he made a meal of fish for his disciples. He showed up on the beach where his disciples were fishing. They were trying to get Simon Peter out of his depression. Simon Peter was so scared to see Jesus that HE ACTUALLY JUMPED INTO THE WATER WITH HIS CLOTHES ON.
And do you know what Jesus did? He gave Simon Peter the ultimate chance to redeem himself by asking Simon Peter if he loved him. Three Times. And Simon Peter said “You Know I Do”. Three times.
Forgiveness. The Ultimate Forgiveness to Sinners. Which we all are. Yeah – that is how I want to live.
Ladybug Kisses 