Category: Love vs. Law

Intro to Apology vs Forgiveness

Repentance must always come first…

Some of you have probably heard me say at one time that it is wise to teach how to forgive than to teach how to apologize. 

And that is what the Holy Spirit has uttered to me over ten years ago and God has given me wisdom to now understand those words in clarity.

In my personal walk with God, the blessed “Southern Baptists” has coined the phrase in my heart that if one doesn’t accept GRACE, then the LAW remains. 

So if we know our “audience” then it is wise to teach both, the power of apology and the power of forgiveness. 

So the question is, “when do we know which is best to use?’

Well, it’s a given that exercising forgiveness at any level is extremely difficult without love.

So in simplicity, if we desire an apology, then obviously our hearts are under the law and not grace.  (2Cor3:15)

For a heart under grace, aka “love” according to 1 Corinthians 13, does not keep score nor does it “keep records of wrongs”.

“4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Unfortunately by default, creation is naturally under The Law.

When Adam fell in Eden, he did not just fail on his own, but all of creation fell with him.

Every atom, every cell and every living creature all by default now has become cursed with a heart under “The Law”.

“The law” meaning that naturally we “keep score” and everything is sacrificial. Therefore, all things has a price tag on it, as Jesus himself was sold out for thirty pieces of silver.

We all inherently believe that it is “an eye for an eye” and a “tooth for a tooth” unless we can become “born-again”.

So because of this, we teach God’s order, which is why “The Laws” via the Old Testament came first before the teaching of the New Testament grace.

Giving someone freedom who is immature is suicide.  So the Old testament was our boot camp for grace, so to speak.

Now God is not the author of confusion. And that anxiety and depression are solely the products of a heart that is confused.

God is about absolutes, there is nothing grey or lukewarm about Him. (Isa45:7)

Now that being said, I would like to use this moment and platform to repent.

To apologize to family, friends, co-workers, The Church body and to The Bride of Christ for where I have failed them. 

Looking back, it was solely by God’s grace and love that I even survived the spiritual warfare this far.  I was totally confused and distracted.

Now as for “forgiveness”, I heard a great pastor once say, “If we genuinely understood how hard it is to forgive, then we should never place ourself in a position to expect it.”

But this is why it is called “amazing” grace. 

And historically, Jesus started this discipleship and movemment of forgiveness first, yet I feel that most churches had been distracted from this priority. 

Yes the laws need to be taught to magnify grace, but once you know both, then we all have the freewill to choose wisely what to exercise and to hold each other accountable and remind each other of God’s love and forgiveness.

So in conclusion, if God’s love is synonymous with forgiveness then per The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, he says that even if we could speak in “tongues of angels” but have not love, we have nothing. 

So if love is truly synonymous with forgiveness, then despite popular “pentacostal” belief, speaking in “tongues” is NOT the evidence of the Holy Spirit, but instead, our ability to forgive.

We live in an age that is the darkest time in the history of mankind.  And it’s not because of more “evil” deeds or more death, but solely because collectively as a civilization, we are more confused now than ever before and we know who is the author of that. 

I am extremely thankful that God gave me an opportunity to be less confused and less distracted these last ten years and to focus more on the “inside of my cup” and to “see” what God is doing to my heart than solely on my circumstances.

In the most Holy and loving name of our Lord Jesus Christ, your brother in our war against sin,

Ray

Do Not Fear Those Who Judge Us Before The Appointed Time.

1 Corinthians 4:5 NIV

“Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.“

If you ever been selected for jury duty, you would know that not just anyone gets selected for a trial.

In fact, many go through a selection process where the attorneys ask these potential jurors a few questions.

Basically, what they are looking for initially, are candidates who can think clear, remain unbiased about an issue and exhibit a form of maturity without any obvious signs of confusion.

They should also be living a life that remotely represents what they believe and is not easily offended.

People that are NOT swayed simply by emotions, or superficial factors like money and popularity.

So the main reason that I brought this topic up is because the Holy Spirit reminded me this morning of this simple wisdom.

He reminded me that if our natural Court systems DO NOT ALLOW these confused people to judge others, THEN WHY DO WE allow these same confused people judge us as if their opinions matter?

Sadly, it is those who are confused the most who judge others the most.

Because if they truly understood what was the issue, they would be led by compassion to NOT cast judgement, but to show mercy.

“Confused people are not fit to judge others in a court of law, let alone judge the body of Christ.” – MMA

1 Corinthians 2
“14The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,”

Brothers and sisters,

In the name of Jesus Christ, be freed from the fear of our external critics.

We have only one critic in Christ, Jesus and He is our judge, jury and advocate/attorney.

So let us remember that the evident signs of confused individuals are those who are quick to judge.

John 8 NIV

“9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,”Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Freedom!

Your brother in our war against sin.

Amen.

Ray Evangelista

Intro: The Law vs. Love.

Jesus speaking to Judas on His LEFT (The Law) vs Peter on His RIGHT (God’s Love). We are The 490.

In Matthew chapter 18, starting justly at verse 21(with both numbers 18 & 21 being key reminders in our society as mile markers for maturity.)

Now after Peter asks Jesus how often he should forgive someone who sins against him (i.e. 490), Jesus tells the story of a servant whose massive debt is forgiven by the king, but who then refuses to forgive a smaller debt owed to him and is tortured for it.

The core message of this story is that God will forgive all sins, and we should too.

Now notice also that this story was told gently to disciple and to instruct Peter who is the only one who holds the keys to “unlock” the Kingdom of God.

Now we all heard this story, and COINCIDENTALLY at VERSE 33, which is also a number of MATURITY, Jesus ends this story with this in Matthew 18,

“33Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

35“That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

Two “KEY” Elements Here!

  1. Notice Jesus’ reference to “my Father” as to A FATHERS LOVE. Jesus is like, “I wouldn’t do that, but my Father would!”. Once again, the mystery of the TRINITY is about God’s love with 3 different “intimacies” with man. (The love of a Father, the love of a Friend and finally the love of a Husband as a symbol of marriage as the two becoming one via the Holy Spirit.) It’s God above us, with us and now, in us.
  2. Second, it is a simple story of The Law vs. God’s Love. If we live by the “Levitical” SWORD we are at EXTREME RISK of DYING BY IT!

Yes, the sword is God’s Word, but like the Holy Trinity, it too has three uses or purposes! And it is HOW we individually choose to use God’s Word from our HEARTS(Mark 4:24 & Matthew 7:2), is what Jesus was speaking of. Are we stuck on former things and have neglected the more important latter purpose?

He again reminding us, “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and saduccees,” as trying to achieve change from the outside first before a change of heart. Are we making the same mistakes as they did by seeking perfection on the outside and neglecting the perfection and maturity that is sown from love, forgiveness and mercy? (Hosea 6:6 NLT)

Once again, if we CANNOT ACCEPT GOD’S GRACE fully, then The LAW REMAINS.

And The Law is NOT PRETTY. Its a Father’s Love! The “fear” of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom! Proverbs 9:10 (Notice that “10” is there as a reminder of The Law)

I said once, that if we find ourselves unappreciative or dis-content of our NEW and IMPROVED home, we may need to GO BACK and spend some time and reflect a bit where our OLD home was! And many of us are there right now, INVOLUNTARILY!

Likewise, if we cannot appreciate or understand fully the NEW testament, we may need to read up on the OLD testament a bit.

And that pretty much sums up mankind. It is healthy to know where our hearts are from time to time. The knowledge of good and evil required this MATURITY prior to us desiring to eat of it. Like the Yin/Yang, its embracing both, BUT its one or the other!

There are NO gray areas! Gray and lukewarm are NOT signs of balance and of being content, but signs of complacency and CONFUSION!

It’s not one foot in the Law and one foot in God’s love, or one foot in Egypt and one foot in the Promised Land, or one foot in slavery and another in freedom! that’s being “lukewarm“, those are signs of being in the WILDERNESS and the WILDERNESS was God’s people being in a state of confusion!

If we cause others to STUMBLE because of our gray or lukewarm state, Jesus said we might as well have placed a stone around their neck and had thrown them into the sea!

Notice The “HINT” Jesus gives us about our “bodies” being in a state of confusion or as a stumbling block to others about The Law vs. Love. That if one hand or one eye or foot causes us to be in conflict of any part of God’s love or grace, that we should CUT IF OFF!

This was a practice under the law at one time and a clear sign of this confusion. Those body parts maybe parts of us that still cannot let go of “The Law”. Parts of our past that we fully have not “let go” or forgiven. Parts of our minds and hearts that still struggle with works and desiring to earn God’s grace versus us simply receiving it freely as a gift.

A heart that still looks at peoples “sins” versus their “sin” singular. There is something about being separated from God that leads us to a life of confusion that is then manifested in our life as the sins we know via adultery, homosexuality, gambling, alcoholism, abuse, lying, stealing, etc. Those are all just the attributes of “sin”, however it is NOT the “sin” that Jesus chose to FIX first!

Clean the cup in the inside first, then the outside will eventually become clean! Fix our separation from God FIRST by addressing our ORIGINAL sin caused in Eden, and then we will see a genuine transformation in each other’s hearts and lives.

The “parts of the body” that Jesus speaks of could also be parts of The Church. It also could be those in our inner circle, like a Judas. People in our homes, community, work and those whom we socialize regularly. It could also be our cell phone, TV, or our home computer.

But whomever these “parts” represent, may we have the faith to remove them from our lives temporarily until we can have the maturity and compassion to have them as a part of our lives without causing any confusion in us and in others.

There are no accidents in God’s plan. If our hearts still live in the Law, Satan is like a lion waiting to devour us! Hurry up and crossover to God’s grace and love where we can now intentionally and willingly visit The Law anytime as a “visitor” or guest of honor so to speak, protected by Gods PERFECT/MATURE love where there is NO MORE FEAR of punishment, amen?

Confusion needs a Fathers love, then soon after, God via Jesus comes as a friend and now we are less confused, but then He leaves us with one more task, to draw even nearer as to DESIRE the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and to not be simply content with it being above us or simply with us.

And this latter love is God’s unconditional love which symbolizes Christ’s marriage to The Church. It’s a mature and perfect love, it gives us this “peace” Jesus spoke of in John 14:26-28. Now this “peace” may not always change our circumstances but it will definitely change our heart and this is God’s will and divine order.

Forgiveness no more lives above us or with us, it now lives in us! From confused, to less confused to now having peace in Christ Jesus our Lord. A peace that comes from a desire to try to understand it all or simply not to.

Praise God.

Freedom! Click here 🙂

Your brother in our war against sin,

Ray Evangelista.