The Bullet of Forgiveness: Relative Guilt?

The cry today of many so-called “scholars” is that guilt feelings exist but guilt itself is only in the imagination. Generally speaking, conventional psychiatrists, psychologists, educators and an increasing number of religious leaders do not admit to the existence of true guilt. (True guilt and false guilt should be differentiated but we will consider that for a future post.)

The popular teaching today is that everything is relative and there are no absolutes. Humanity and our wishes, feelings and wisdom are exalted above the revelation and commandments of God. Moral principles are regarded as merely relative and convenient for our culture and not relevant to how a man should behave.

Illustration: I recall a young and aggressive business man telling me, “You can’t be completely honest in today’s business world and survive. You’ve got to get to your competition and your customers before they get to you.”

That’s relativism. And it’s a lie! Breaking the law of man is called a crime. Breaking the law of God is called a sin. A price must be paid for both.

I am absolutely convinced that all of you reading this article today (as well as the one writing it) are victims … either consciously or unconsciously … of that one awesome reality that crushes joy, reduces meaning and creates despair … guilt!

Only God can remove true guilt. Read Psalm 103, admit your need of God’s forgiveness and get a head start!

The Bullet of Forgiveness: The Heart of God’s Message to Humanity

Most folks … even active church people … seem to miss the main point about the religion of Jesus Christ. As my friend, Jess Moody, puts it: “The world is overloaded with religious pygmies who cover up their runthood with pseudo piety.”

To summarize the message and the meaning of Christ’s gospel in one sentence, I would say this, “God loves everyone of us totally and continually just as we are and yearns for us to admit our need of Him, reject our rebellion from His ways and allow Him to be our Master so that we may know peace, pardon, purpose and power.”

King David expressed is so well in Psalm 103:10, 11, 14: “for God has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For high as the heavens are above the earth so great is His loving kindness toward those who fear (reverence, trust, obey) Him. For He Himself knows what we are made of. He is mindful that we are but dust (frail, weak, temporary, brief).”

But David’s prayer is the prayer of a man who wants to be honest with God, who admits his guilt and who seeks God’s forgiveness.

The Bullet of Dealing with Sin: Guilt Removed (Part 2)

Somewhere each person must find forgiveness for not being what he knows he ought to be. Confession is a human necessity. All true confession has two sides to it. First, the negative side simply admits wrong and gets guilt off your chest. Secondly, the positive side looks to God for strength not to sin.

Guilt wants to stay hidden. It breeds best in isolation. Only in the humiliation of honest confession can we be freed from our guilt. Confession ends our endless circle of self justification.

Being honest with God and others deals a death blow to phoniness and pride. Many a husband and wife are living in agony because they refuse to admit where they are weak (phoniness) and view themselves as 100% right and their partner wrong (pride).

Finding forgiveness is one of life’s most glorious experiences. But confession must come first. As a start I’d like to confess to all my readers that old H.D. McCarty has too much pride and too many phony moments. I hope you all forgive me and love me like I am. God has done this for all Christians and it’s a great relief to experience His kind of love and forgiveness.

A man, in his phoniness and pride, tells others to change and then he will love them! Jesus has said, “I LOVE YOU!” And then asks, “Will you change?” It’s foolish to resist an offer like that!

The Bullet of Dealing with Sin: Guilt Acquired (Part 1)

Saint Isodor of Seville (560-630 A.D.) stated that “One who despairs of being pardoned for sin, damns himself by despair rather than by the sin he has committed.” One of the Bible’s greatest stories of sin and greatness backs up this statement.

David was king of Israel … he had everything. Yet, he chose to commit an immoral act with another man’s wife and then have the man murdered (II Samuel 11-12). The amazing thing is that God still called David “A man after My own heart.” Why? It wasn’t the fact that David never sinned that pleased God … for David did sin. All humans sin. David’s greatness lay in what he did about his sin. He grieved over it, confessed it and repented of it. The guilt of what David had done was about to erupt within him. Guilt must find a release or it will chew us to bits.

What is guilt? It is discovering the truth about ourselves and deciding we don’t like what we find. It is knowing what we ought to be … as employee, student, husband, wife, friend, etc. … but never being able to quite make it. Sometimes our failures are immense and our sense of worthlessness, despair and guilt almost overwhelm us. Hasn’t everyone at one time or another wished to go off and hide somewhere? Move to some hidden cabin? Let the rest of the world go by?

The Bullet of Victorious Living: “Standing Again,” Part 3 of 3

… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)

So, have you decided you will be whole? Are you open to the only source of real power? Will you accept the pain necessary to win? Is truth more important to you than life itself? Are you daily experiencing the “resurrection principle?”

Remember these five words by way of summary: Salvation, Spirit, Suffer, Self, Stand. These alone are the keys to progress in the life of a champion. Jesus Christ is the champion of both “conferences” known to man … heaven and earth. To follow anyone else is foolish and self-inflicted eventual disaster. Christ saw God’s salvation, yielded to his Spirit, suffered the worse pain possible, died to His own will and, then, tasted the honor of the greatest resurrection in eternity. He embraced the “four essentials” and stood again. Will you?

The Bullet of Victorious Living: “Four Keys,” Part 2 of 3

… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)

Key #1: THE SALVATION ESSENTIAL – to know Christ is to find ultimate fullness. The Bible word for salvation is soteria or sozo. It means deliverance, preservation, health, wholeness, etc. Victory is reserved for the athlete with the disciplined body and healthy mind. No example has ever been given greater than Christ. The goal of every athlete is maximum potential. Man can only be “maximum man” when he knows and pursues the intentions and plans of the Master Coach. “To know” means experiential knowledge of Coach God’s will and style.

Key #2: THE SPIRIT ESSENTIAL – The power of resurrection refers to Romans 8:11. To get the coach's knowledge and enthusiasm into his own life should be the goal of every athlete. True, human coaches break down, but the Divine Trainer is always perfect. Any problem is in us and not Him. God’s Spirit is given to the “true believer” and increasingly gives us supernatural power as we obey.

Key #3: THE SUFFERING ESSENTIAL – Until the athlete is ready to suffer with the coach to achieve victory they are both frustrated. You never suffer in the right way until you take responsibility for the right things. (Taking wrong responsibility leads to stupid and meaningless suffering.) Make up your mind what kind of beating you are prepared to take to win.

Key #4: THE SELF ESSENTIAL – Death to self-wishes is the only way to live up to the desire of Someone greater. The champion athlete must put the coach, his team-mates and the victory ahead of his own bruises or feelings. No army ever wins a battle where their first concern is their safety. You fight to win. Dying is secondary. Being a champion is primary.

The Bullet of Victorious Living: “To Stand Out,” Part 1 of 3

… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10-11)

The Apostle Paul, probably the greatest Christian who ever lived, outlined the five keys to the victorious Christ Life in Philippians 3:10-11. These keys must have been written for coaches in a special way. The five steps are absolute essentials if an athlete is to “run to win” and conquer as a champion (I Corinthians 9:24-27).

In Philippians 3:10, Paul gives us the four “musts” if we are to reach the goal of 3:11. Here Paul gives us the paramount aim of his life … a present resurrection that lifts his life clearly above the “dead ambition” of people living around him. This word for resurrection is used only here in the Greek New Testament. It means out-resurrection or exanastasis! We get our word exit from the Greek ex. Ana means again and stasis means to stand. So Paul’s great goal as a Christian is to “stand out again” and again and again above the lesser driven men who give themselves to meager purposes all around him. In an athletic contest only the champion “stands out” and that’s because he alone has paid the price in knowing and applying the four essentials.

“Behold the Lifter” (1)

THERE are two kinds of people on earth to-day;
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.

Not the sinner and saint, for it's well understood,
The good are half bad, and the bad are half good.

Not the rich and the poor, for to rate a man's wealth,
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.

Not the happy and sad, for the swift flying years
Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.

No; the two kinds of people on earth I mean,
Are the people who lift, and the people who lean.

These lines, taken from one of Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poems, touched me deeply. We are not sure of the exact title … someone called it “Which are You?” I immediately thought of the words of John the Baptist about our Lord Christ … “Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). To take away sin is to “lift” the pressing and exhausting weight of our sins, failures, guilt, hurts, burdens, weaknesses, agonies, doubts and fears. Praise the Father that His Son is One Who “takes away” and “lifts.” He is One Who will “lighten” our pressures when our next crisis comes along. He “holds us up” whether our suffering is chronic or acute!

Thank God for those people who always refresh and renew us by their presence (Philemon 7). They share our burdens as Christ would (Gal. 6:2). They strengthen us by giving off the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ (II Cor. 2:14). They risk themselves for our good even as Christ did by His Own Cross Life (Phil. 2:30).

The serious Disciple is a “lifter.” One who brings the “Jesus light” of confidence, wisdom and hope to others. He or she determines never to be a “leaner” whose very presence can mean complaining, accusing, self pitying, grumbling and discouragement. Those who truly learn “to lean” on the Lord will “lean” on others least. They have qualified themselves to be “lifters.”

The ten lines above were given to me by a dear friend. He truly refreshed my day by this gift of “lifting.” I have given them my own title … “Behold the Lifter.” It expresses my feelings about the people who were and are “lifters” in the midst of my battles. How wonderful when certain people come into our life and we don’t have to say, “Oh, no, here they come!” How much greater it is to see a friend approach and say with praise … “Behold the Lifter!” These are those who give us joy, strength and confidence. May many say it of each of us!

Which are You?*
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

THERE are two kinds of people on earth to-day;
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.
Not the sinner and saint, for it's well understood,
The good are half bad, and the bad are half good.
Not the rich and the poor, for to rate a man's wealth,
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.
Not the humble and proud, for in life's little span,
Who puts on vain airs, is not counted a man.
Not the happy and sad, for the swift flying years
Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.
No; the two kinds of people on earth I mean,
Are the people who lift, and the people who lean.
Wherever you go, you will find the earth's masses,
Are always divided in just these two classes.
And oddly enough, you will find too, I ween,
(And oddly enough, you’ll find what I’ve seen)**
There's only one lifter to twenty who lean.
In which class are you? Are you easing the load,
Of overtaxed lifters, who toil down the road?
Or are you a leaner, who lets others share
(Or are you a learner, who makes others bear)**
Your portion of labor, and worry and care?

* Title in question – we couldn’t find the poem under this title when we searched Ella Wilcox’s literary works available from Project Gutenberg.
** My modifications to the poem. In addition to my changes above I would add a final stanza:

Have done then with your leaning, be a lifter of His light
Make it your ambition to give others Messiah sight.
So when you are before them, a “God lamb” for all to view
Christ’s Gospel of lifting will create their world anew!

(1) I thought this work was anonymous until we were able to research and locate the full poem and the author. Before finding that Ella Wilcox (1850-1919) wrote the words I entitled the lines “Behold the Lifter.” The words perfectly describe our Lord in John 1:29, at least to me. I can think of no more noble life than that of one who helps and enables others to find liberty and freedom by being “lifted” higher that this fallen world in which we all struggle! This spiritual release from what people have been creates for them an entrance into a new dimension of what they CAN become in Christ! “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, mud and mire and set my feet on a rock” (Ps. 40:2).