But what does this mean for you and me? I
suspect that there aren't many of us reading this
magazine who are participating in high profi le
athletics or that many of us spend the majority of
our lives in the public spotlight, but that doesn't
preclude us from fi nding common ground with
these celebrity athletes. At the end of the day, we all
need a Savior and the beauty of life is that God sent his
Son Jesus to earth to reconcile all of humanity with Him-
self--regardless of whether we're winning the Masters or
driving a school bus. Jesus says in John 12:46: "I have come
into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me
should stay in darkness."
The testimonies of these athletes witness to the fact
that God can be with us in every station of life. There is no
one who is found to be outside God's grace. We're often
amazed by the stories of those who have overcome amaz-
ing odds to attain the heights to which they've risen--the
inner-city kid who grew up with next to nothing excels on
the court and is drafted onto the professional team and
makes it big. These success stories seem to inspire us and
offer hope for the underdog.
God, in His wisdom has provided the ultimate oppor-
tunity for the underdogs among us to not only be
drafted onto His team, but to excel beyond our
wildest hopes and dreams. The apostle Paul
shared God's heart in a prayer that ended his
letter to the people of the ancient city of Ephe-
sus, that for those who fi nd their faith in
Christ, we would be able to "grasp how wide
and long and high and deep is the love of
Christ, and to know this love that surpasses
knowledge--that [we] may be fi lled to the
measure of all the fullness of God" (Ephe-
sians 3:18-19).
So let's look to these faithful athletes
for more than just Sunday afternoon
entertainment. Let's take their faithful
example to heart and look to discover
our own faith in a God who doesn't care
what we do for a living or whether we've
won the championship or not, but simply
cares that we love Him and desire a life of
deeper faith.
August
2O14
W W W . S A I N T E R S E C T I O N . O R G
I
n churches around the world, messages on
the importance of forgiveness have echoed
for centuries. The Lord's prayer has us asking
God to forgive us our trespasses, and says we have forgiven
those who have trespassed against us. We listen to the
importance of forgiveness, we pray for forgiveness, and we say
we have forgiven. But what does it mean to forgive?
Experience says forgiveness is the same as forgetting. But
it's not. Forgive and forget should not be said together. Ever.
Forgiveness is a choice. It's a choice to not let something
have power over you anymore. It's that simple. Forgiveness
is allowing yourself to move forward from something.
There's a huge difference between forgetting and moving on.
By combining forgive with forget we have
created an additional burden that people
carry, a burden of self doubt that
something is wrong with them for not
being able to forget something. But
there's nothing wrong with not
being able to forget something.
Our experiences, good and
bad, are part of who we are.
But we get to choose how we
react to those experiences. We
can choose to not let things have
power over us anymore. We can
choose to move forward from our
past. We can choose who we want to be
and allow ourselves to become that person.
In teaching His followers to forgive, Jesus never said to
forget what others had done. The word Jesus most commonly
used that we translate as forgive, means to let go. When Jesus
forgave someone, He released them from what happened
before, and allowed a person to go forward in their life and
relationship with God. That is the essence of Christian forgive-
ness. Jesus offered people a chance to move beyond their
past--the things they had done in the past and what had been
done to them. Not forgetting what happened. Not accepting an
apology. But moving forward.
Christian forgiveness allows us to better shape the people
God wants us to become. Letting go, moving forward from our
past, helps us develop into the person we were created to be.
Our past is our past and that infl uences who we are. But it
doesn't have to dictate who we are. We can forgive our past,
without forgetting it, and move out of the past into our future.
That is the hope and benefi t of Christian forgiveness.
God reaches out to us from our future, not from our past.
It's our choice to accept what God is offering.
-- Cara Rockhill @McRockhill
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