An incident that happened at the Penn State/Minnesota game this past weekend has caused somewhat of a stir in the Media. Before the game, a Penn State player knelt down in the End Zone and said a little prayer. While he was doing that, the Minnesota team mascot also knelt down in front of him and mocked his praying. The Minnesota officials have already apologized for the incident, but as usual, the Media wont let it die. Even worse, many Christians have also been outraged and have even demanded that the mascot lose his job. What do you think?
As a Christian, I am always offended when somebody mocks prayer. It hurts to hear people say that there is no God or that Jesus was not really the Son of God. But what can I do about it? Argue with them? Curse at them? Hope they die and have to "pay" for their unbelief? No, of course not. The greatest power that we have as Christians is our ability to forgive and let it go. All we can do is pray and ask God to help them truly see the "Light" that is His Son Jesus Christ. Yes it hurts, and it is ok to let them know that they offended us. But we must immediately forgive them and pray for their Salvation. Isn't that what Jesus would do? Isn't that what Jesus DID do when He was here?
Romans 12:4 says, "Bless them which persecute you: Bless, and curse not."
Father, please help us to remember that we must forgive others for anything that they may do to offend us. You set the perfect example by forgiving us. Teach us to follow Your example. In Jesus name, Amen.
Gosh , this is a very sensitive subject for me because forgiveness was one of the hardest things I had to learn to accept after I was saved. Forgiving people that have hurt me and damaged so much in my heart. Once I grasped it and really accepted it and used it .. it was like lifting a ton of bricks off of me. It was actually a release to forgive. It was taking a huge burden and dumping it. Thanks for posting this , its one of the toughest things to do but gets easier every day as I develope more of a relationship with God.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have said it better myself. Totally agree. I am for sure guilty of when something like that happens, pointing my finger and letting them know I didn't like it. But really, it is all about Love and the One who loves us all. Thanks for sharing this!! Great devotion. Have a wonderful weekend!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! Yes, it is offensive when people do such ridiculous things, but as Christians, we certainly do need to forgive. We should, by all means, let the person know they have offended us for that is accountability. But we must quickly follow that with forgiveness. And, by all means, we must pray for the souls of such as these.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this imperative reminder, Allen. It's so easy to stop our thought process at: "Hey, that's not right." But we should remember to take it to the next step and forgive ... and to remember that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
ReplyDeleteFor goodness' sake. Who among us hasn't let something slip that we later regretted? I know I have (and do). If I were persecuted for every stupid decision I made ... I shudder to think!
Wonderful devotion.