Do you have to forgive people who don’t even ask for your forgiveness? We’ve been talking about forgiveness the last few episodes of Little Lessons. And today’s question, of course, is another one along those lines. When people offend us, when people sin against us, do we have to forgive them? And my answer is going to absolutely shock many who are watching this.
Will God forgive you if you keep repeating the same sin over and over again? This is a great question because, as I mentioned on our previous Little Lesson, none of us have reached perfection yet.
“We all stumble,” James said, “in many ways, and if anyone hasn’t stumbled in what he says,” there’s the biggest stumbling place right there, “he’s a perfect man, or woman, able to bridle the whole body as well.” (see James 3:2). And he goes on to elaborate about how the tongue is this unruly thing.
You’ve sinned and you still feel guilty; what should you do? Scripture says that everybody’s sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23). So if you’ve sinned, welcome to the human race.
But I’m not trying to give anybody any excuses. Because when we believe in Jesus, we’ve set ourselves on a course to follow Him. Which is another way of saying obey Him. Which is another way of saying we keep His commandments.
And that’s our intention. We repent of our sins. We’re turning away from that which we know is displeasing in God’s eyes, and we set ourselves on a course every day: take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow Him (see Luke 9:23).
Who is the greatest? My answer is going to surprise you! The big question today is, who is the greatest?
Now, before we get into the answer there’s a story told about a pastor who, every Sunday before the adult sermon, brought the children forward and would give a little children’s sermon before they’d be released to go to Sunday School. So, one Sunday, at the beginning of his children’s sermon with all of those kids gathering around him, he said, “Okay, children, I have a question for you. What is small and furry and has a long tail and climbs up and down trees?” One little boy raised his hand, and the pastor said, “Okay, Johnny, what’s the answer?” And he said, “Well, I know the answer is Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me!”
Should you homeschool your children? We’re going to talk about homeschooling, and is that something that you should do?
Well, the most important thing, of course, to understand is that if you are a mom or a dad, it’s your responsibility “to train up your children in the way that they should go,” says Proverbs 22:6, “And, bring them up in the nurture and in the admonition of the Lord,” says the New Testament (see Ephesians 6:4).
Was the Apostle Peter a Calvinist? Well, some say that he was. In fact, of course, all Calvinists will say that Peter’s a Calvinist.
If you don’t know what a Calvinist is just find my little lesson entitled, “What is Calvinism.”
Today we ask, once again, how can you have a consistent and meaningful devotional life? We want to continue following up on our previous little lesson talking about a devotional life, and how is it possible to have a meaningful devotional life?
Well, it has to be heartfelt, right? You don’t just want to be saying redundant prayers by rote.
How can you have a consistent and meaningful devotional life? We’re going to talk about daily devotions, having a devotional life. And what that means is, spending time consistently, usually every day, once a day, in prayer and in meditation in God’s Word.
And before we talk about how to do that consistently and meaningfully, we ought to just gently, first of all, talk about what it says about us if we don’t really have a devotional life.
Why do bad things happen to good people? In our previous two episodes, we’ve been considering some very difficult questions for which, in my more than 40 years of being in the ministry, and more than that of being a Christian, I’ve never come up with a answer or read an answer or heard an answer that fully satisfied me. I get some degree of understanding, but not as much as I would like.
Of course, that agrees with what Paul said. Paul said, “We’re looking through a glass darkly or dimly.” That is, imagine that that’s our perception of things. We don’t understand or see everything. It’s not all clear to us. We’re looking through a glass that’s fogged over, and we can make out some stuff on the other side of that glass, but we can’t see as much as we want. This is one of those questions. Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why are some children born with birth defects? Today is another very difficult question and one that a lot of people have wrestled over (I myself have), one that’s not easy to answer and one for which I don’t have a satisfactory answer in my own heart or mind.
I have some degree of an answer but not one that’s fully satisfying. Any parent who’s ever given birth to a child who’s less than perfect physically or mentally, or something is less than what they were hoping for with that baby, faces this very difficult question. Why? Why?