Forgiveness
Joe Slater
	Our God is a God Who forgives. “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy” (Micah 7:18). Yes, forgiving us gives God pleasure! Thus God is not stingy with His forgiveness; Isaiah 55:7 says, “He will abundantly pardon.”
	What about you and me? Are we a forgiving kind of people? Forgiving isn’t as easy as it sounds. Merely mouthing the words “I forgive you” doesn’t cut it. Forgiveness must come from the heart (Matthew 18:35). We must forgive others “even as Christ forgave [us]” (Colossians 3:13). Words like freely, willingly, and completely come to mind. Jesus taught that we must forgive continually, as often as the offender repents, without keeping track of repeat offenses (“seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21, 22).
	No, forgiveness isn’t easy. Have you ever said (or heard), “What he did was so awful I simply cannot forgive him”? Paul (Saul) had arrogantly blasphemed the name of Jesus, torturing and murdering His disciples; but God forgave him when he repented and obeyed the gospel. Who has done anything worse than this to you?
	Others have this attitude: “I’m going to forgive you, but in the future I will have nothing to do with you.” Such people don’t understand what forgiveness is. When Jesus forgave you, did He subsequently refuse to have anything to do with you?
Since forgiving others doesn’t come naturally, we ought to discipline ourselves carefully to be certain that we are not holding grudges. A few questions may help us to see whether we are really forgiving:
	1) Do I secretly rejoice when a misfortune befalls the one who offended me?
	2) Do I purposefully avoid his/her presence?
	3) Do I speak to him/her hesitantly, and only when I have to?
	4) Do I vividly remember the wrong that was committed?
	5) Do I sit in silence and brood over the wrong done to me?
	6) If the offender needed prayer, would I happily and fervently go to God in his/her behalf?
	7) Have I sought an opportunity to do him/her a favor?
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First Impressions
	One night a teenage girl brought her new boyfriend home to meet her parents. They were appalled by his appearance: leather jacket, motorcycle boots, tattoos, and a pierced nose.
	Later, the parents pulled their daughter aside and confessed their concern. “Dear,” said the mother diplomatically, “he doesn’t seem very nice.”
	“Oh please, Mom,” replied the daughter, “if he wasn’t nice, why would he be doing 500 hours of community service?”
	Evil company corrupts good habits
		1 Corinthians 15:33
	--via Jacksonville, AL
Human Lobsters
	Dr. Orrison Swett Marden was born in 1850 and died in 1924. His mother died when he was only three years old. Consequently, he spent much of his early childhood hunting, fishing, and trapping in the coastal state of New Hampshire with his father, who died from injuries in the woods when Marden was only seven.
	With his two sisters, young Orrison was shuffled around from one guardian to another. He was often "hired out" to earn his keep. Although he was able to work his way through college, he suffered many setbacks and personal tragedies in life. He did, however, persevere.
	Later in life Dr. Marden, reflecting on personal initiative, would write: "A lobster when left high and dry among the rocks, has not instinct and energy enough to work his way back to the sea, but waits for the sea to come to him.
	"If it does not come, he remains where he is and dies, although the slightest effort would enable him to reach the waves, which are perhaps within a yard of him.
	"The world is full of human lobsters: men stranded on the rocks of indecision and procrastination, who, instead of putting forth their own energies are waiting for some grand billow of good fortune to set them afloat."
	How does that strike you? I suspect most people will nod in agreement. But is there a spiritual application? Can you think of any ways people are spiritual lobsters?
	--Jared Jackson (Stockton, CA)