Close The Book On Vengeance And Resentment
E. Stanley Jones, the great Methodist missionary and theologian, relates, “Someone once said to me, ‘I don't think you know when you are insulted.’ I replied, ‘I am not looking for insults and so I do not see them.’"
As a recipe to let go of resentments, Jones concludes, “When Jesus announced his program at Nazareth, he read from Isaiah until he came to the words the ‘day of vengeance of our God.’ Then he closed the book. You do the same. Leave the vengeance to God–use only redemptive goodwill.”
“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19; cf. Deuteronomy 32:35).
When Cleaning Solutions Can Kill
Cleaning products are supposed to make things clean and germ free, right? But did you know that cleaning products can actually be the vehicle for spreading soil and germs? Sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? How can cleaning products make things soiled or contaminated?
Well, consider what recently happened with a high-end line of cleaning products, sold under the name The Laundress, which recently had to recall nearly 8 million units of products, including laundry detergents, stain removers, and surface cleaners, because they potentially were infected with dangerous bacteria with really long, hard to pronounce names — like Burkolderia Cepacia Complex, Klebsiella Aerogenes and Pseudomonas.
Safety regulators said consumers should "immediately stop" using all referenced products and immediately return them for refund.
Or considered another similar incident just months prior when the Clorox company — the King of Clean, right?! — had to recall a variety of Pine Sol cleaning products because of the risk of bacteria.
In both cases, the very products designed and marketed to clean our filth, and thus keep us healthier, were actually spreading germs that could kill us.
Can you say irony?
Sadly, there is a spiritual parallel taking place in human hearts every minute of every day, as we make our feeble attempts to wash ourselves, purge ourselves of the stain of sin.
We attempt to scrub our soiled souls with the detergent made of our own human efforts, good works, and well intentions. We try to wash away past and present sin with the stain remover of pious acts or legalistic mandates. Yet for all our effort, we are simply injecting more sin, more soil, more contamination into the mix. And just like those contaminated cleaning products, our own self-righteous efforts can (and will!) kill us.
Scripture is clear — ALL our righteous deeds are like smelly, filthy rags in the nostrils of the Lord (Isaiah 64:6). The more we try to clean ourselves, the filthier we become.
There is only One cleaning solution fit to remove the stain of our soiled souls, and that is the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Himself.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. … If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7,9 ESV).
Last Salem Witch Finally Pardoned
Fox News and the AP report:
A woman who was convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, finally has had her name cleared after more than three centuries.
Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday legally pardoned Elizabeth Johnson Jr.
Johnson's conviction took place back in 1693 — and she was sentenced to death amid the Salem Witch Trials. Johnson is the final accused "witch" to be cleared, the Associated Press reported.
Wow, this was a pardon 300+ years in the making! And it took a bunch of middle school students to advocate on her behalf.
It turns out a group of 8th graders at North Andover Middle School in North Andover, Massachusetts, were studying the era when they discovered the last unpardoned “witch.” So they began researching ways to rectify the situation. The result was a piece of legislation which righted the wrong.
"We will never be able to change what happened to victims like Elizabeth but at the very least can set the record straight," Massachusetts Sen. Diana DiZoglio, who approved the bill to pardon Johnson, told the AP.
When sin signs, seals, and delivers our judgment, who will be our advocate? Who will leave the 99 to seek the one who needs rescuing and redemption, the last one left behind?
Jesus, that's who! It’s a pardon story, eternity in the making.
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1, NIV).
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4, NIV).