Cycles and Webs of Love

I would like to share a revelation of sorts…  Our sins and imperfections are given to us by God.  They are the reason God loves us so much.  They are the reason He reveres humanity and everything else in existence.  He created reality and set it on the course that it is on.  He intended us to fall.  The inherent redemption in the Fall brings Him glory that, without the Fall, He would not gain.  There is a reason and will behind everything that the Father does.  In this vein, I believe that the fall, sins, and imperfection itself allows for room, between His reality and ours, for His love to flourish.  That is the reason behind the Fall and the reason for the distance that it created between Creator and creation – it allows for God’s abundant and conquering love to be made manifest and useful.  Further, when God forgives us, imperfect creatures, out of His never-ending, bottomless love, we are then naturally inclined to return that love to God because of His abounding mercy.  That completes the cycle and web of love between Creator and creation.  Our sins and imperfections are not the evil in the world.  The evil in the world is the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the purpose of our sins and imperfections which can result in undue and unnecessary guilt.  That illusion of guilt, although it was an illusion, God saw fit to even abolish on the cross; and, looking at the cross, we should accept that guilt has been abolished and love reigns…  God’s mercy rings true…!

 

~jimbolawrence aka Jason W. Tapscott, whose writings seen here you may like, and, if you do, you can find more of at jasontapscott.com and amazon.com.

Forgiveness

As much as we would love to, we do not actually have the authority to forgive.  We can only ask to be forgiven.  I say this because inherent in forgiving others is the assumption that we have been wronged and they have wronged us.  In order for that to be true, we have to judge other people’s behavior.  The Bible says judge not lest ye be judged; therefore, we cannot judge and we cannot forgive.  However, look first to your own perception when you judge that you have been wronged.  Oftentimes, we have done something wrong within the context as well.  Thus, we should ask for forgiveness before assuming that we have the moral right to forgive others.  In other words, a necessary condition for us to forgive someone else is a judgment that they have done something wrong.  Rather, I would suggest blessing someone who you perceive to have done some wrong to you because ultimately you played a substantial part in them wronging you so you have no right to judge, and no right to forgive.  The judgment is always a subjective thing and often it comes from selfish motives on the part of the one doing the judging and thinking that they have been wronged.  Thus, it becomes personal and we need to ask forgiveness for being selfish long before we assume that someone who has wronged us needs forgiven.  To say that we can forgive is to say that it is okay for us to judge.  It is not okay.  In fact, we are almost constantly wronging others ourselves; in that wronging we lose the authority to judge and forgive.  This may seem counterintuitive but all I am saying is look to yourself and your own salvation before assuming someone else is wrong because that is a value judgment and not fair to anyone.

 

Jesus is the only human with the definite ability to forgive.  That is because he never wronged anyone and so was blameless.  That gives him a position of authority in which he can forgive others where we cannot.  Perhaps we need to seek forgiveness from Jesus and then put the other person’s forgiveness in His righteous and capable hands.  After all, that is what His death on the cross did.  It legitimized Him as Lord and he punctuated that legitimization by way of His Resurrection.  Thus, His death awarded us ultimate and all encompassing forgiveness.  He imparted this forgiveness and ultimate salvation to us even as we slaughtered Him like the perfect Lamb that He was.  So, technically, we no longer even need forgiveness.  It has been accomplished for us; so, live free and clear.  However, we still need to work for others’ salvation and bring them into the pasture of love with us, bring them into the Kingdom of Perfection with us, even as Jesus brought us in.  We can work our own salvation and forgiveness in that way and by praying and being covered in the blood of Jesus by way of unwavering faith.  When become free and clear, we can then impart that freedom to others, as Jesus brought it to us by His death on the cross.

 

-Jimbo