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Music
A Young Christians Cry
by Ben Ditzel
I want to take the time in this article to relate a few thoughts
I have. But before I do, I also want to say that any of you who have any
thoughts you would like to express on this subject, any views, and opinions, as
well as pointers or guidelines, PLEASE send them to me as soon as you can with
permission to publish some or all of what you write. I would very much like to
hear from you all and know what you have to say.
Now, my thoughts. I have been thinking about this a lot more than usual the past
24 hours and some thoughts have occurred to me, some of which I have expressed
before, but I feel need to be said again. First and foremost, I very strongly
feel that when someone repents of a sin, we, as Christians, MUST forgive them.
In the New Testament, Jesus' disciples come to Him and ask Him (not sure of
exact words) "Master, if a brother sins against us, how many times should we
forgive him? Up to seven times?" And Jesus answers them saying "I tell you,
forgive him seventy TIMES seven." That is 490 times! In other words, NEVER stop
forgiving him. Someone could sin (and I am not only talking about the sins we've
been talking about, sexual, and lust etc.., but ANY SIN) and come to me for
forgiveness. OK, granted, most people will say, "Oh they are sorry, forgive
them." But what if they do the same thing again AFTER they are truly sorry the
first time and then the second time they again come to me and tell me they are
sorry. Should I still be willing and ready to forgive them? Of course! What did
Jesus' say? ... But what if they do this 3, 4, 5, 6, or even more times? And
each time they slip up, they cry out and ask for forgiveness. At this point, I
have to be careful I am discerning if they are REALLY TRULY sorry, but if they
are (and one can usually tell), then I must forgive them. The Bible says in
another place "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."! Sound
familiar? Most of you probably heard it as the golden rule as children. But do
we really put it into practice? What if we were in their place? What if we were
the ones aching for the things that we'd had which were wrong; what if WE were
the ones that fell into temptation and even instigated sin? When we repented and
cried out to God and to our friends for forgiveness, how would we like it if
they said, "I've given you 2 chances, you blew it. I can't always give
forgiveness when you just turn around and do it all over again in a few months."
How would we feel. I think we'd cry, "But I want so much to have just another
chance! Can't you see I'm TRYING? I stumble and I fall so often, but please bear
with me, PLEASE!" I've been there; I know when you loose people's trust and they
won't give you another chance. It takes YEARS to gain that trust back. The same
not only with trust like lying, but any sin: uncontrollable anger, hate, lust,
backbiting, sex before marriage, bitterness, and even things we may not consider
to be serious like wilfully misunderstanding someone, jealousy, and all the
things in between. Readers, everyone is watching Christians to see what kind of
example they set. This is very true. And if we have Jesus stickers, Icthus fish,
and Christian radio bumper stickers on our car, we go to church, and always
preach Jesus to everyone we meet, but turn around and don't even have the basic
grace to accept someone who is asking for another chance no matter how many
times they've failed before, ... what is the world going to think? They are
going to say, "What hypocrites! What two faced people Christians must be! I
don't really want to be associated in that group."
Friends, we need to realize that we must give others the grace
and acceptance that God has so graciously given to us through His Son. And
another point is, and I want to make this very clear and I am firm on this as
well. When a fellow Christian is struggling in his or her life and asks for
forgiveness when he or she stumbles and commits a sin, what are we going to do?
I pray that we will do as Jesus commands us and be each others support;
strengthen one another and edify one another with our conversation, and
encourage them. But do you know what I see today? I see Christians against
Christians and this frankly makes me sick! This is division in the church; among
the brethren. I see Christians judging other Christians just because they are
struggling and claiming that those who are struggling are not valid in their
cries for help and forgiveness because they have done it all before... BEFORE!!!
What does before mean to God? Well? What does it mean? I want you to think about
it. What I believe it means in a case like this is... NOTHING. If they repent TO
GOD, THERE IS NO BEFORE- period- end of sentence. Christ washes away our sins
with Jesus' blood that HE shed for His elect children. When He looks at our
past, instead of a liar, He sees an honest person IN HIM, instead of angry and
hating person, He sees a loving and caring person IN HIM, instead of someone who
hasn't waited for marriage to have sex, He sees a young man or woman made a
virgin again- ready to start fresh once again IN HIM! This is what WE NEED TO
SEE AS WELL. A lot of Christians today seem to turn their backs on the young
Christians struggling to please Him. If not literally, then they turn their
backs in a not so noticeable way like spreading rumours or tearing them down in
the name of helping them. I have seen this happened so much in my life. I have
seen it in churches, families, and friends. We need to seriously think what kind
of example we are setting here, but far more importantly, THINK of the ones that
some of of are WRITING OFF as being insincere and hopeless ONLY BECAUSE OF THE
PAST WAY THEY HAVE BEEN. Forgiveness is quite similar to another chance and that
is what Jesus said to us, his disciples. Give them seventy times seven chances.
He loves all of us His children equally. He loves those of us who THINK we are
really doing great in our faith and are in a place to look down on our fellow
brothers; He loves those of us who are struggling to live for Him. Let's
seriously consider where each one of us stands in what I have said here. If I
have confused you, I'm sorry. It is VERY late here, but some things need to be
said and I had the mind to say it now. :) Let me know if you have questions
about this. I really want to hear your thoughts, responses and anything else.
And a note of encouragement: For those of you who are stumbling and falling down
either by accident or willingly sitting down, I want to say this. You are not
alone. If you fall down, get up and try again just lie a little child learning
to walk. For those of you who 'fall' for temptation whether it be from the
outside or from your inside and you sit down and don't want to think about your
path you are trying to live by, but instead want to forget that just for a bit
while you 'lie and rest', remember, whether we like it or not, no matter where
we are, God is watching us. He has and does see everything we do even when we
don't think or want to think about Him. He is our Father and is disappointed in
us when we CHOOSE to fail, but then, if and when we get up, and we, with tears
streaming from our faces in sorrow and realization of what we have just done,
brush off the dirt from our clothes and continue on, He is standing there with
open arms cheering us on saying YOU CAN DO IT! And I just want to say to those
of you who feel you are in that place right now, you CAN do it, but only with
His help. 'Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that SAVED a WRETCH like
ME. I once was LOST, but NOW am found, was blind but now I see...'
And what about right now? If you haven't done so, but feel that you need Him to
re-enter your life; once again, if you feel you have drawn far away from Him
(not LOST your salvation, but LOST His touch and your close communion with Him,
just sincerely ask Him to restore you again because you once were lost, but now
you are found. God bless you; Go in peace. May God's love touch you and may He
give the mercy to stretch out His arm and help you, if you have a desire to be
helped, and keep you from falling and even keep you from sitting down along the
way. Amen, so be it!
