"We who preach and write, do so in a manner different from which the Scriptures have been written. We write while we make progress. We learn something new every day. We speak as we still knock for understanding...If anyone criticizes me when I have said what is right, he does me an injustice. But I would be more angry with the one who praises me and takes what I have written for Gospel truth than I would be with the one who criticizes me unfairly. Augustine
Grace To all,
Mark Hamby
A theology class normally didn't involve vegetables, but today would be different. The professor asked each student to bring in a clear plastic bag full of potatoes, and it couldn’t be a zip-lock bag. He told everyone to think of people they were unwilling to forgive, and then write the names of these people on their potatoes.
“I want you to carry your potatoes around wherever you go this week,” the teacher explained. “Put the sack by your desk at school, on the couch next to you when you watch TV, and beside your bed at night.”
Everyone in the class laughed over this ridiculous exercise, and during the first couple of days they felt some embarrassment whenever they were asked about the potatoes. The sacks soon became cumbersome, and a nuisance. Worse, the potatoes began to deteriorate into a nasty- smelling slime.
By the end of the week each student had learned the powerful lesson that you can’t carry unforgiveness for too long before it destroys you. One student commented that in a way it is like drinking poison hoping for the other person to die.
In Matthew 6:14, Jesus teaches us – “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly father forgive you.”
Forgiveness is a gift we give to someone else, but those who give it are the real beneficiaries.
Written by Mark Hamby, founder and president of Lamplighter Publishing and Lamplighter Theatre.. To request a catalog or receive information on Lamplighter’s popular collection of inspiring, biblically based, character-building literature, or the new dramatic audio’s from Lamplighter Theatre, please visit our website at www.lamplighter.net or call toll free 1-888-246-7735.
Overcoming evil with good is easy to say but not easy to practice.
It was 1 am, and after flying for 9 hours, we missed the last leg of our connection. Now we had to spend the nightonly to get up at 5 am to catch the next flight home.To make matters worse, the baggage claim wouldn't give us our luggage, and to top it all off we just heard that the health care bill had passed! So there we were…exhausted, bewildered, no clean cloths for tomorrow—at least we had a free voucher for the hotel.
When we arrived at the hotel, the receptionist who was wearing a head covering, said that she needed my credit card. I told her that this was a free voucher and that I didn’t have a credit card to give her. She then said that we couldn't have the room without a credit card. The hotel was dirty and there was no way they were going to get my credit card. So I spoke in a demanding and belittling tone letting her know what kind of night we just had and all we wanted was to go to bed. She unexpectedly apologized displaying genuine concern and gave us the room key. When we opened the door we realized she gave us a deluxe room and that's not all—there was a knock on the door…it was the same receptionist. She held in her hand a bag of toiletries and told me that if I needed anything else just to call. You can imagine how I felt at this point. God was using an unbeliever to help me to see how I was supposed to act and it was a lesson I will not soon forget.
In Romans 12 Paul writes, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
All of the other scouts had sleekly crafted cars with cool paint jobs – obviously the result of father-son partnerships. But Gilbert's “Blue Lightning” was crudely made, lopsided and a little wobbly. Worse yet, every scout had a proud dad standing by his side, but Gilbert was accompanied by “Mom.”
In a Pinewood Derby, wooden cars race down a ramp in an elimination-style competition. You keep racing as long as you win. And quite unexpectedly “Blue Lightning” kept winning, over and over again, until it was pitted in a final contest against the sleekest, fastest-looking car there.
At that moment Gilbert asked if he could pray. His brow wrinkled in concentration, he prayed for a very long minute and a half. Finally he smiled and said, “I'm ready.”
To everyone's surprise, “Blue Lightning” won by a nose and the crowd roared with approval. The scout master approached with a microphone and asked, “Did you pray to win, son?” Little Gilbert shook his head. “No sir. That wouldn't be fair. I asked God to not let me cry if I lost.” That simple prayer spoke volumes to everyone present. Gilbert didn't ask God to win, make things fair, or remove his pain. He simply prayed to endure it.
How well Gilbert understood the promise of Philippians 4:13 – "I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength,” or the promise of James 4, “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to consume it on your passions….But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
I was reading in Genesis 17 and was struck with God's demand upon Abraham when he said, "I am God Almighty, walk before Me and be thou perfect." Why would God give any man such an unachievable standard to live by? When I find anomalies in the Scripture or passages that seem contrary to the character of God, I just can't let it go until I can find some resolve. So I opened the Bible and lo and behold I saw something that I hadn't see before. Before God tells Abraham to be perfect, he first tells him that He is God Almighty! God Almighty, means the all Powerful One—the all Sufficient One. You see, living perfectly depends "COMPLETELY on God's all sufficiency. What makes this interesting is what happened in Abraham's life in the previous two chapters—he took a second wife and had a child and COMPLETELY messed up his family! He lost sight of God's all-sufficiency.
What a lesson this is for me. Right now I am in the midst of a great trial…a testing of my faith in regard to the future of Lamplighter Theatre. The funding for this monumental project is beyond the scope of our resources, but I am reminded that "Faithful is he who calls you, who will also do it." Abraham's ability to have a child when he was 100 years old was God's challenge not Abraham's, because He's all-sufficient.
