I Make the Father's Life My Own

May 13, 2014

I Make the Father's Life My Own

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.”

Matthew 6:14

Terry Anderson is the American journalist who was captured in Lebanon in 1985 and held hostage by Hezbollah militants until 1991. In an interview after his release from captivity, he was asked whether he could ever forgive his captors. He responded, “I’m a Christian. It’s required of me that I forgive, no matter how hard it may be.” (Time, December 16, 1991) Anderson is right; forgiveness is hard! Jesus set the bar very high for us when he said from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Sometimes there is a very fine line between forgiveness and a passivity that enables inappropriate behavior. Two meditation exercises help me distinguish between Godly forgiveness and codependency. First, I spend time with the Apostle Paul’s challenge: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5 NRSV). Do my responses to those who have hurt me, line up with the witness of Christ in me?

For the second meditation, I spend time with Henri Nouwen’s commentary on Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15). "If the only meaning of the story were that people sin but God forgives, I could easily begin to think of my sins as a fine occasion for God to show me forgiveness. There would be no challenge in such an interpretation. I would resign myself to my weaknesses and keep hoping that eventually God would close his eyes to them and let me come home, whatever I did. Such romanticism is not the message of the Gospels. What I am called to make true is that whether I am the younger or elder son, I am the son of my compassionate Father. I am an heir. . . . as son and heir I am to become successor. I am destined to step into my Father's place and offer to others the same compassion that he has offered me. The return to the Father is ultimately the challenge to become the Father. . . . Being in the Father's house requires that I make the Father's life my own and become transformed in his image." (The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Continuum Intl Pub Group (January 1996))

When I set my heart on making the Father’s life my own, I’ll respond appropriately to the witness of Christ within me.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.