True forgiveness loves with both action and attitude.

But how can you tell if you are not angry or resentful, either toward someone else or toward yourself? Here's an easy test....

Do you continue to point backward or do you strive to move forward? Anger and resentment always point backward, whereas true forgiveness strives forward.

A lot of people think God is angry with them. But if God is still angry with you, then why would He desire to move you forward?

Anger looks back and says, "I forget you." God looks forward and says, "I forgive you."
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Purpose is ultimately found in following Jesus. Fulfillment is found in turning your life over to Him. Some of us never get to experience "great" because we never leave good enough behind. Jesus said in Mark 8:36, "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"

Just as Jesus stopped into Peter's boat, He steps into your boat today. He knows your story. He knows you won't live a perfect life. But He also knows full well who you will become one day, even if you don't know yet.

The invitation is the same for you as it was for Peter: "Follow Me."
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Some might argue that people are a lot of stuff. As we pile up our sin, all our failures and misfires, we"lose value." In the eyes of others, or even in your own eyes, maybe you feel like your past makes you unworthy of love, undeserving of calling, and unqualified to succeed.

But if we are valued at the price someone would pay, then Jesus refutes all of those feelings by what He did for us at the cross, The cross of Jesus declares loudly, "You are not valued by the mess that you made but by the price that was paide."

Jesus not only paid the highest cost for you, deeming you valuable, but He is also a master restorer. God is concerned with the restoration of the entire world. If Jesus is God in flesh who came to reveal who God is in this world, then of course He would give us beautiful glimpses of restoration that will one day highlight the full restoration of the world.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

Many people have a false assumption that the ultimate goal of Christianity is to come to a relationship with Jesus Christ so that when you die you can go to heaven. Make no mistake about it: it will be a glorious day, moment, and eternity when we finally see Jesus in heaven! I love the promise of Romans 8:18: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Far more often, however, Jesus focuses not on escaping this world so one day we go up in the clouds of heaven, but on bringing heaven down to earth.

The central message that Jesus came to announce was that the Kingdom of Heaven is available to all - now. It had always been available prior to Jesus, but His arrival, coming down from heaven to earth, brought new accessibility. The light coming into the darkness brought this reality to life like never before seen.

While God's kingdom is at hand now, there are other kingdoms at work now as well. This is ultimately why we are still struggling to be free. There is still a spiritual battle raging as we speak. Just as there is a "now" aspect to God's kingdom, there is also a "not yet" aspect to fully seeing God's restored kingdom. Ultimately, that is why Jesus urges us to pray these words in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

We started with the idea of the nail-scarred hands of Jesus bringing the opportunity of freedom to all of us. But did you know that the nails that went through the hands and feet of Jesus were not the only nails used in the crucifixion story?

The soldiers in charge of His crucifixion also nailed a sign above his head that read "King of the Jews." But as they were using nails to hang a man and a sign upon a cross, Jesus was nailing something else to the cross that day. Look at Colossians 2:13-14:

"He has forgiven you all your sins: Christ has utterly wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it over his own head on the cross."
 

Jesus nailed all sin on the cross. May the declaration that Jesus says over you yesterday, today, and forever - "I forgive you" - be forever nailed to your heart.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

Mark 16:7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, "He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."

Did you catch that? The angel said, "The disciples and Peter." The disciples and Peter. Jesus distinguishes Peter from the rest.

What does this show us? In the course of the grand rescue mission for all people, Jesus put Peter's freedom opportunity at the forefront of His rescue. This friend of His, to whom he had trusted so much and empowered with such a high calling, was still on the mind of Jesus! The angel says to tell all of the disciples, which means that every single one will be offered grace, forgiveness, and an invitation to follow Jesus again. But He also singles out Peter. God has special forgiveness, special hope, and a special opportunity for Peter.

Do you see how far God will go to get back what is His? Do you see how loving and kind our God is to allow chance after chance after chance to us?

If He did this for Peter, He can do it for you. How amazing that in the midst of this rescue story and mission, in which Jesus will bring freedom to all, He is also able to have a singular focus in the "one."

Jesus fought the ultimate fight for you so you would stop fighting yourself. His declaration and full payment of sins include the whole world. And it includes you!
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

In the Greek, there are four different words for love. "Agape" and "phileo" were the two used the most often. Agape refers to an unconditional love, a love that goes beyond a feeling; it's love that is there not just in the good times, but the bad as well. Agape love also has the connotation of a love that requires sacrifice. The most famous wedding passage, 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 - the one that starts by saying, "Love is patient, love is kind..." - is referring to an agape love. God's love for us is most commonly thought of as agape love. God loves us unconditionally, sacrificially, at all times no matter what.

Phileo refers to an affectionate, or brotherly, love. That's why the city of Philadelphia is known as the city of brotherly love. This is the type of love that close friends have for one another. It is a companionable and relational type of love.

The exchange between Peter and Jesus uses both types of love. Let's take another look at John 21:15-17.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you AGAPE love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said "you know that I PHILEO love you" Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you AGAPE love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I PHILEO love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you PHILEO love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you PHILEO love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I PHILEO love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."

In the first two instances Jesus used the word agape and yet Peter returned with phileo. Finally, asking for the third time, Jesus changes to phileo. In this instance, we can see that Peter was hurt. But even while grieving, he responds back with a phileo declaration of love.

What Peter needed was to be reminded that even in his failure to agape and phileo Jesus, the Lord never failed to agape and phileo him. What we need to be reminded of today is that God doesn't need us to right all of our wrongs. He's already paid the price in full for us. Jesus agape's us. Jesus phileo's us. You are forgiven.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,