Category: Spiritual Help

3) OPPORTUNITY TO CULTIVATE COMPASSION

When we’ve made a mistake, instead of digging in our heels and holding tight to our defense, we could look around openly at the whole playing field. Who else was involved? What was their potential experience?

If there were others involved in our past mistakes, we can seek to understand their feelings and perspectives. If we share in their experience (compassion is actually defined as “shared suffering”), we may feel a desire to help or change, and in the process our compassion for others grows. Our eyes are opened to what we couldn’t before see. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Psychologists continually learn the personal benefits of having a compassionate heart. Here are just a few:

  • Feeling less judgmental of others
  • Having more desire to help others in challenging situations
  • Experiencing less desire for acting in anger
  • Wanting a more peaceful atmosphere

Besides the personal benefits, compassion opens our mind and hearts to others and their experiences. We step out of a narrow existence and into the shared experience of the human race, made in the image and likeness of God.

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1) THE PERSON FORGIVEN MUCH LOVES MUCH

The experience of God’s grace is by far the best thing that can come from our worst mistakes. Realizing that we are loved unconditionally and forgiven unconditionally isn’t natural to us, but it is mind-blowing and life-changing to realize.

The Bible tells us how Jesus was invited to eat at the house of a Pharisee named Simon. A woman from that town who had lived a sinful life heard Jesus was there, so she came into the house and weeping at his feet, wet his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured expensive perfume on them. Simon was shocked; if Jesus were a holy man, why would he allow a sinner to touch him?

Jesus knew Simon’s heart and the heart of the woman and said to him:

Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

And Jesus said, “You have judged correctly.” (Luke 7:41-43)

When we feel the heavy weight of our past mistakes and then realize the goodness and fullness of God’s forgiveness, we’re moved to an overwhelming thankfulness and love. In the story above, Jesus turned to Simon and said, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven–for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Experiencing God’s grace opens our heart to a new kind of life– a life guided by the love of Jesus.

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5 Ways Past Mistakes Could Benefit Your Life Today

Maya Angelou once said, “Do the best you can until you know better. And when you know better, do better.”

As Christians we can take past troubles particularly hard, dragging them around in suitcases of embarrassment and shame, thinking no one would accept us if they only knew.

But what if you could use what you learned from past mistakes to improve yourself and even help others today?

You can.

In this post we’ll look at ideas for turning past mistakes into dazzling new positives. Because as Rick Warren once wrote, “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”

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The Battle of Living by Faith

There’s a life that looks real. And pretty and safe. On paper. On screen.

And then there’s real life. The life that is behind all that. The one that has character and flaws and wonders. The one that’s still there.

It’s courageous to be real with people about your weaknesses. To see yourself exposed and walk in that feeling and to keep moving your feet. To keep your head up and your heart open. Because living by faith doesn’t mean every door opens or every person agrees. It can mean trusting God during periods of silence. Or seeking Him regardless of a culture that teaches He doesn’t matter.

To get rejected but keep trying.

To believe in Jesus when others laugh.

To feels so overwhelmed that you break.

To have made mighty mistakes but move on with integrity and hope.

Because living by faith means many things. It can mean feeling the burn of embarrassment on your cheeks while walking away from a fight. It can mean feeling confused and admitting it, relying on God to reveal truth and straighten paths in His time.

Feeling successful some weeks and like a shipwreck others.

And feeling just a little afraid that others will shake their heads silently and judge…

And right there is the fight. The battle of living by faith.

The battle we all know; the one that tells you to stay down. But you hear a voice whispering in your ear, “Get up and walk.”

You know it’s the right voice, but nothing in this world justifies it. You may lose if you get up and walk.

But you choose to do it. You decide at that moment to live. To rise to the occasion, to use the breath God put in your lungs to continue.

And suddenly you realize that being full of yourself isn’t really you at all. And you turn your head. Turn your eyes.

You ask the Lord.

More of you, Lord. Please. More of you.

And that’s when it all changes. Because suddenly you realize there’s much to do. There’s much to be in Him.

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Because when we decide to live in faith things get messy. And beautiful.

And finally we know what it means to have beauty from ashes. Suddenly we realize that all the messed up crazy that was our past and at times can be our present is redeemed and bled for and paid for.

Thank  you Lord Jesus.

This time is too short. Let us live, really live, for you.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)

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GOT-THIS-ALL-WRONG GOSSIP

You admit you probably got it wrong, but spread it anyway, because it’s still touching on some points that could be true. Or would sound exciting if true. Either way, it usually starts out like this: I probably got this all wrong, but apparently…

This is one of the most common types of gossip. We think we’re just passing on the latest news. Could it hurt someone? Meh. Maybe. But if we don’t even know the person, does it matter? James 4:17 says, “Anyone, then, who know the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

Thankfully, Jesus gave us an example to follow:

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is said whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs” (Matt 10:26-27).

HOW DO I STOP?

After learning about the types of gossip, do you think it’s time to come clean? Take the next step in confessing and healing the desire to gossip. God bless you!

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DISHING

“Dishin’ the dirt” basically means sharing the “juicy info” you learned about someone. Maybe the intent isn’t to directly cause damage, but by keeping the gossip alive, it continues to spread and taint the image of the person it’s about.

Proverbs 20:19 tells us that a gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.

James 5:9 says, “Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!”

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SLANDER

It’s defined as spreading rumors or lies about a person to cause damage purposely. The written form of it is libel.

The Bible mentions slander countless times in lists like this one: “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” (Colossians 3:8).

James 4:11 tells it straight: “Brothers, do not slander one another.”

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TYPES OF GOSSIP AND WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

How do we know what’s gossip and what’s not gossip? We can find a number of Bible verses about gossip, especially in Proverbs, and we can also ask God to reveal it to us. James 1:5 tells us: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

Have any of the types of gossip below been too tempting for you to resist lately? (Come back here when you’re done if you can use help to stop gossiping.)

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8 Types of Gossip, 26 Bible Verses

Gossip is like a secret craving. We say we don’t like it, but when it’s within reach, we almost can’t resist it. We get a sudden appetite to know what we don’t know… about somebody else.

Why is it so hard to stop? Proverbs 18:8 says, “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.”

No, you might think. Not me. I’m not into sharing the dirty details about a person’s life just for fun. But gossip comes in many flavors, and it involves listening as well. Proverbs 17:4 notes: “Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander.” Yikes!

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That is true repentance in action.

Think about that regarding yourself and where you are today.   Have you done this yet?

The most significant moment in anyone’s life is when God begins to deal with you about repentance. But if you shrug your shoulders and say “well I’m not interested, maybe later”…there’s no guarantee that God will deal with you again,
or that you’ll get another tomorrow.

The most critical moment in anyone’s life is when God deals with your heart. When he says “Come back to me.  I’m willing to take you back.  I love you, I want you.”

One thing you can see throughout the bible that really makes God angry is despising God’s grace. He’s saying to you now: Come to me. Turn to me and let me help you.

If you’ve never known the forgiveness of God that is found through Jesus’s death on the cross and his resurrection, He invites you to come to Him and believe. He paid the ultimate price by laying down His life, as an atonement for your sins to be pardoned by God’s grace for whoever will put their trust in Him alone. Not Jesus plus other religions, or gods, idols, or sins.

But you’ve got to repent and ask Him in; trust what Jesus did on the cross for you (even if you don’t understand it all yet), and stop trying to be ‘good enough’ for God. You and I will never be good enough- if we could have then Jesus never would have needed to die for us.

If you’ve once known Jesus Christ as His son or daughter and you’ve backslidden (walked away from God into sin), come back to Him now. Don’t wait.  Repent of your wayward heart.

Either way, I hope you will take some time with Almighty God who is right there by your side now- waiting. Use your own words to repent- turn back to Him everyday for strength and relationship, and away from the life of sin.

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