Hello? We've Been Disconnected.

This is what happens often in our world of cell phones – we are having a great conversation whether walking, riding, or sitting still and then suddenly there’s nothing.  We no longer “feel” the openness of the phone line and say “hello” several times.  Sometimes we’ve just passed through a blank spot in the air waves, and the reception will quickly return, other times the battery may run out, and sometimes we inadvertently press the cut off button with our cheek or chin.  And In many cases we just run out of phone units and have to recharge by purchasing more time.

The beauty of it is you know where the person is and they know where you are.  Maybe you’re even traveling towards one another for a rendezvous.  Neither of you are “lost” even though the connection has been temporarily lost through technical difficulties.  This reminds me of another moment in human history where the connection was lost:  The Garden of Eden.

God and Adam were one, and even when Eve was brought forth, they still were all spiritually and intimately connected.  God knew everything about them, their thoughts and imaginations, their whereabouts in the garden at all times.  Because the Bible doesn’t give us more details of their time in the Garden it appears to us that they disobeyed God only a few hours or days after Eve was created.  But we do know that before they sinned God was not controlled or limited by time, even though He created the 24 hour period we call “night and day”.

Adam had lived in and with God alone longer than he did with Eve, so it stands to reason that he had to have had some quality time with her, his wife, enough so that when she disobeyed God and offered him the forbidden fruit, he was compelled to obey her over His Creator and Father.  He and she had such a pure and strong intimate connection, they were knit together and could see and touch and experience one another in such a way that they never could or would or did with God, that they were magnetized, and he could not see being apart from her.

So when they ate of the fruit, the line between them and God went dead.  They were disconnected.  Not lost in the sense that they could not be physically located, for God always knew where they were, but there was now death between them and God.  The line of life was severed and God said “Adam, where are you?”  This is the equivalent of our “hello, heeeelllllooooo?” when we can no longer hear the other person on the other side.  You can even “feel” within the phone the disconnectedness even if there is no click or fuzzy feedback noise.

This problem of communication is prevalent throughout the earth in every type of relationship.  We seem to meet people and hit it off well after we find that “common ground”, but then something happens along the way – words spoken or unspoken, deeds done or not performed, strange facial expressions and unexplained actions may at times cause the line to go dead.  Or we hit a blank spot and we don’t know why or how to respond, or how long we should wait before cutting off the phone ourselves since we don’t know how long it will last.  We don’t know that the other person’s phone battery died, or they dropped their phone, or it was stolen, or they forgot to turn it on at all that day, etc.  So many reasons as to why the line of communication has been interrupted, but what (and Who) is inside us will determine how we will respond or react to the dead line.  I’m learning, and some days are better than others however, that if I will give others the same reasons and excuses that I give to myself, before jumping to conclusions, new problems will not be created. 

The Bible says that “no temptation has taken us except what is common to man.”  In the context of this article I’m receiving from the Lord that everyone who has a cell phone is subject to the same challenges, rules, and regulations of having and using a cell phone.  If it has happened to you, whatever “it” is, it has also happened to others, but we all can learn from each others’ experiences and of course, the “powers that be” and even everyday normal people will come up with another solution to meet the need of everyone experiencing the same things.  Whew!!

How do you respond and react to “dead lines” of communication?  How do I respond or react to interruptions in communication or delayed responses?  How did God respond?  In Genesis we see that God searched for Adam and when He “found” him, and confronted what he had done, even though He had to evict him and his wife from the garden, He continued manifesting in the earth His plan to restore the lines of intimate communion with humans.  There are several scripture verses I can safely lift out of their contexts and not lose their meanings to reveal how God feels about restoring the lines of communication and intimacy between us and Himself, and in our human relationships too. 

One of the first ones is found in Matthew’s gospel 5:23 & 24.  Jesus teaches “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you, leave your gift at the altar and go.  First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift.” [Amplified Bible]  This is in cases where you know the other person is holding something against you.  Sometimes communication stops because people get busy and fall out of touch.  When this happens, the level of intimacy of those relationships (depending on the type of relationship, and also the reasons) may decline in intensity.  For instance, if a man or woman you are dating becomes interested in someone else, he or she may distance himself/herself from you in order to sever the line with you.  Unless he or she comes right out and tells you that this is the case, you could be left feeling the ever increasing coldness between you and assume you’ve done something wrong.

God however doesn’t desire to move away from us.  He longs after us.  His heart and soul desires us in every way.  He is not content with blank spots in the air waves, temporary cut-offs, and delayed responses.  He shows us in His Word how to keep the line connected and open with Him unto ever increasing levels of intimacy with Him.  But we have to go into another garden to get our new “mobile phone” and calling plan. J  We must meet Him in Gethsemane and walk with Him to Calvary (which one gospel writer records to be a garden also) where we surrender our will back to God “Garden of Eden” style, and then we are crucified with Christ so we can be resurrected with, and in Him.

 In Gethsemane Peter and Judas (and all the disciples) got disconnected from the Lord.  The difference between Peter and Judas is that Judas gave up trying and not only hung up the phone, but cut off his service.  Peter on the other hand kept his phone with him just in case. . .  “It might ring again.  He might call me again and I can apologize; He might give me another chance, for after all, He knew me better than I knew myself, and He even warned me in advance of what I was going to do.  I just over estimated the strength of my commitment to Him.  I won’t discard my ‘phone’ neither cancel my phone plan.  Just leave it open, for anything is possible.”  Then one day women came telling him “The Lord is alive!! And He asked for you specifically Peter!  He said to meet Him in Galilee.”

“Wow!!  He rang my phone again.  The lines are open again.  We can communicate, talk, clear the air, start over again, get to know each other better, respect.”  Hmmm.  “Hello”?

Peace.

Forgiveness

Exactly what is it and how do you know you have it (or have received it) and are extending it to others?  Forgiveness is the releasing of an infraction or offense committed against us – the person.  Forgiving the person for what they have done to hurt, demean, or destroy us.  It doesn’t mean we forget because it’s not possible to forget the death of a loved one caused by another, or a rape, or when one is paying a debt owed by another which takes much time to complete.  It is ever before you.  But to forgive the person means you release yourself from being attached to them in a prison of the negative incident.  They may still have to pay consequences – or not.  They may never turn around and apologize or express remorse for injuring and turning your life upside down, especially if they themselves too have died or are mentally disabled, or just evil.

Forgiveness is more for the forgiver than for the forGIVEE. J  The forgiven.  If we find it difficult to forgive others more than likely we find it difficult to extend forgiveness to ourselves and to accept and receive forgiveness from others.  From God.  We cannot believe that God or others have truly forgiven us, and we apply that same mentality against others when they have offended us.

Whether we realize it or not, we keep ourselves in a perpetual state of trying to pay back or repay someone because of the wrong we’ve done, even if it’s just psychologically or at the subconscious level.  And because we have this expectation of ourselves, we believe others have it of us as well, and thus it is how we roll:  We carry inside of ourselves an expectation of others to eventually and somehow make restitution for the pain they’ve caused, even though we may have said verbally “I forgive you”.  We expect the gods, the environment to turn on this person, not desiring for them to have the better life which we ourselves have been denied because of their choices against us.

We can only forgive to the extent that we have experienced forgiveness as our reality.  When forgiveness has become my truth (and the truth, once it is known, believed and received can and will set me free) then I can give it to others, for now I have something to talk about, something to give.  We can only give what we have, and we can only have what we’ve received, and we can only receive what we’ve been given.  FORgiven. J

Jesus said “he who forgives much is one who has received a lot of forgiveness, and he who forgives little is someone who has not received a lot of forgiveness.”  So it seems in order to be qualified for a lot of forgiveness you must be one who lives on the edge in some way.  This doesn’t mean leading a fast and dangerous life-style on the physical side, but it can mean you are one who is not always careful about what you say about others, what you do with, for or against others.  You just go and come in and through lives like tsunami-Katrina winds, or a bull in a china shop.  You may smile coming and everyone is glad to see you, but sooner than later they realize they wished you had never entered their lives at all. 

Eventually, when your tongue, feet, hands, and habits catch up with you and you look behind to see what a wrecking crew your life has been in the lives of others, if you have a heart, you will want to apologize and ask for forgiveness.  A lot of forgiveness. J  You will also want to first forgive yourself – release yourself from the prison of what you cannot change, but do what you can to make things better for those you’ve hurt (if this is possible) and for those you will meet in the future.

Many of us who have been raised in a tight Christian box were monitored ever so closely that we were not allowed to commit outward acts of sin without quick and harsh consequences.  So because we developed a habit of “not sinning” – not hurting others but pleasing everyone we met – we did not have the need for forgiveness.  Thus we for years did not develop our forgiveness muscles, and when we did commit wrong, we were the first to beat ourselves down to a pulp.  Why?  Because we did not know how to forgive, not even ourselves.  In order to receive forgiveness one must first not only do something wrong, but he/she must know that they’ve committed a wrong.

Without this knowledge people continue hurting and destroying others without a conscience.  However, many know right from wrong, but their consciences are seared to the point where they no longer have any mental or emotional feelings, and thus they can hurt and destroy without a fore- or second thought.  In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he wrote, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, . . .”  I Timothy 4:1&2. [Emphasis mine.]  If you’ve ever burned yourself while ironing you are familiar with the sizzling sound of flesh being fried, not to mention the hot burning pain.  But then the injured place goes through a time of numbness as it heals itself, and if healing occurs in a healthy way, the feeling will return in good time.  But if not, one could say that spot has been cauterized, and it’s as though it has been separated from the rest of the body where feeling remains.

This woman in the midst of men handling Jesus’ feet with perfume, tears and hair was an expert at making men feel good.  Perhaps some of the men in the room were jealous to see her giving to Jesus what they felt belonged to them?  “She never kissed my feet when . . .”  “Humph, that’s the perfume she bought with the cash I paid her and she pours it on His feet?!  The nerve of that . . .”  Hmmm “What have you done for me lately?”  14 verses of the seventh chapter of Luke’s gospel are devoted to this spectacle and the reactions of the witnesses:  Jesus forgiving the gross, horrible, social sins of a woman (of all people for Him to forgive.  Well “they” need it the most, don’t we?  Hmmm).

She breaks a year’s worth of wages from giving her body away to ungrateful men who would not offer her a retirement plan or dental insurance, and they get upset because . . .  But Jesus said to them about themselves, and I summarize – “when I came into your house you didn’t give me any water so I could wash My own feet, you did not greet me at the door with a bisous bisous, and you did not anoint my head with perfumed oil.  But this woman in YOUR house Mr. Simon the Pharisee (Mr. Religious Person, Mr. Holier-than-thou, Mr. Pastor, Mr. Deacon, etc.) has washed My feet with her tears (she put her face and lips on My dirty feet), and wiped them with her own hair (not a wig, but her real hair), and she anointed My feet with fragrant oil.  And by the way, since you disapprove of her so much, how did she get in here, your house Simon, in the first place?  Do you know her Simon?”  And now I quote, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.  But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.  Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’”  Luke 7:36-50

The Worst Sinners make the best lovers when they truly are transformed by the Lord of love.  Now I’m not saying to go out and live the worst life you can so Jesus can forgive you of 100,000 sins.  Not at all, for you would destroy your life and others for nothing, if you’re reading this message (and if you’re not). J  The point is first of all, we all need forgiveness because we are born in sin after Adam.  Therefore we need to learn and understand what this means and the depth of God’s sacrifice for us on the cross.  When we truly meet this truth and embrace it, and allow it to consume us, we will realize that we have been forgiven much.  John 8:31-32.

However, God has already made provision for our 100,000+ sins (per person, per day, week, month, year, etc.) and He is willing to take the chance on letting us sin again and again until we “get it” and get it good – His love and forgiveness.  And when we finally get it, like this woman, not only will we lavish it back onto Jesus, but we will be able to truly give it to one another.  Real forgiveness cost Jesus His life and soul on the cross and an eternity in hell (oh yes, go find out what that means.  It will blow your unforgiving mind.) so He well knows how difficult it is to be forgiving – to live a life as the forgiven and the forgiving forgiver.  Thus He also knows how important and powerful it is, and that is why He paid the ultimate price to first forgive us of our sins before we were ever born, and before we would ever hear about Him and decide “yes” or “no” to this “Jesus Christ” as Savior and Lord of our lives, and then secondly empower and command us to extend forgiveness to one another.

I did not know the depth of my forgiveness for others until I saw how shallow the pool of forgiveness I was swimming in for, and towards myself.  I’ve been told that it’s best to learn how to swim at the deep end of the pool for after all, one can still drown in just two inches of water and sustain a hefty bump on the head.  Now where's the fun in that?  So, let’s jump in.

Peace.