Month: June 2024

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What’s in a Sigh?

“That wasn’t an ‘I’m tired’ sigh,” Peggy remarked as we drove down the interstate together, “What’s on your mind?” After 40 years of marriage, we know each other’s audibles, inaudibles, and everything in between. So I told her. “I’ve been thinking I’m much closer to the time I’ll see my father again than to the age I was when I lost him. [My father died close to 60 years ago, when I was a boy.] I wonder what it will be like. They say there is an intense feeling of love in heaven, so maybe all my human cares and questions will be gone. Then I think about having lived in my father’s shadow. Have I limited myself by my own thoughts? What is my calling now? And can I step into a new calling without self-limiting beliefs?” All this found expression in one big, wordless sigh.

The Bible articulates something we already sense inside, that “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now”1 and that “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”2 The Greek word translated as “groan” here can also be translated, “sigh.” We live in a world marked with futility, injustice, persecution, and pain, so we sigh at what is, while longing for what awaits us. But here’s the thing: we don’t groan alone. Paul writes, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings [sighs] too deep for words.”3 The Holy Spirit in us intercedes for us; He prays on our behalf for needs we don’t even know we have. Moreover, it is He who takes the initiative to do so. Why would we ever doubt God’s love for us?

King David once relatably lamented in song, “my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing.”4 Yet God understands our troubles in this broken world even more than we do, and He will not leave us hopelessly mired in them. Instead, He promises a new life of liberty and joy: “The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”5

In the meantime, the Spirit sighs with us as He intercedes for us. Rejoice in this. Rest in this. We are not alone.

Father, we are overwhelmed at times by the challenges we know and the obstacles we sense but cannot articulate. Thank You for sending Your Spirit to intercede on our behalf with groans and sighs too deep for words. Lead us. We need You. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Romans 8:22 ESV
2 Romans 8:23 ESV
3 Romans 8:26 ESV
4 Psalm 31:10 ESV
5 Isaiah 51:11 ESV

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Freedom in Forgiveness

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Matthew 6:12 KJV

There was some agitation in our small group, stemming from one person, who, critical by nature, carried a negativity, moreover the kind of person who is hard on others, yet soft on themselves. Privately, another small group member poured out his anger and frustration to me. It was easy to relate, for I was frustrated, too. When it was time to respond, I said, “We can’t let this divide us. We must forgive and be unified.” There was a pause, then my friend broke the silence, “I don’t know if I can. I’ve prayed about it, but I don’t know if I can.” I understood.

At times like these, I consider one of Jesus’ most convicting parables, “The Unmerciful Servant,” which is found in Matthew 18:21-35. Here, Jesus tells a fictitious story of a master who completely forgives a servant of an enormous, unpayable debt. Yet upon leaving, the newly liberated servant seizes a fellow servant who was indebted to him, but on a much smaller scale. Despite his co-worker’s plea, the one who had received forgiveness refuses to extend the same mercy to him. It is a powerful parable, and every time I ponder it, I realize this: No single person has ever offended me nearly as much as I, in my sin, have offended God. Not even close. So, if we are forgiven much, how can we not forgive others of less? Then, again, how can we?

I think it starts at the realization that our forgiveness is not merely a lofty concept or beautiful words on a page, rather, it is true. At great cost, our enormous, unpayable debt has been canceled; we need no longer live under its weight. In this we thrive. Consider the woman who had led a sinful life: as Jesus reclined at a dinner table, “she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”1 Note Jesus’ response, “I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”2 Did you catch it? Our ability to love as Jesus loves begins with the realization our sins truly are forgiven. Love then flows. And in this wonderful, liberating truth, we can “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”3 Forgiveness takes a decision, and as forgiven people, it is one we can make. Forgive, and thrive as one.

Father, thank You for forgiving my sins, the depths of which I cannot fathom. Fill me, Holy Spirit, that I in humility, gratitude, and joy may forgive others. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Luke 7:37-38 NIV
2 Luke 7:47 NIV
3 Colossians 3:13 NIV

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God’s Zeal for Us

“Zeal for your house will consume me.”1 King David had foretold it; the disciples now recalled it. Seeing mass corruption in His Father’s abode, Jesus had taken the time to fashion a whip and, with it, He drove out from the temple “those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.”2 Zeal! “He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.”3 Zeal! And to the pigeon peddlers, He said, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”4 Zeal! Atonement and forgiveness in the presence of God are life itself, and not to be exploited or reduced to a business deal. Then can you feel it, Jesus’ zeal for the dwelling place of God?

Now, the temple was destroyed around 70 AD, so where does God live now? If there is no temple, is there no atonement or forgiveness of sins, moreover has God lost His zeal for us? Hardly. On the contrary, He has revealed His passion for us in a much more intimate way than bricks and mortar: He has made us to be His temple, and He lives in us. Wrote Paul to the Corinthian church, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”5 So vital is this truth to the life of the believer that Paul doubled down a mere three chapters later, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”6 God has made us alive with Christ, who sacrificially took our sins away from us and nailed them to the cross,7 and He now lives in all who believe on His name.

Then should it surprise us that God is zealous toward us? In great fervor, He expunges the moral corruption from us, His dwelling place. And Jesus calls His church to be as passionate toward Him in our response as He is toward us in His initiation, saying, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”8 God is transforming us into the image of His Son, from one glory to another,9 and He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.10 He is zealous about you, His dwelling place. Then may it be that His zeal for you ignites your zeal for Him.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:9 ESV

Father, help us to realize just how passionate You are for us; liberate us to receive Your love and, in this freedom, to offer ourselves entirely to You today. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 John 2:17 ESV, cf Psalm 69:9
2 John 2:14 ESV
3 John 2:15 ESV
4 John 2:16 ESV
5 1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV, emphasis added
6 1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV, emphasis added
7 Colossians 2:13-14
8 Revelation 3:19 ESV
9 2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV
10 Philippians 1:6)