On July 4, 1776, 250 years ago this Saturday, during the 2nd Continental Congress, the 56 delegates from the 13 original American Colonies voted to approve and adopt the Declaration of Independence, thereby declaring themselves free from the tyrannical rule of King George of Great Britain. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and edited by John Adams and others, the Preamble famously proclaims:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

In what is considered to be one of the most significant lines in historical literature, Jefferson declares the undeniable truth that deep within the human soul is the yearning for freedom. The Declaration of Independence formalized the American Revolutionary War, in which our founding fathers fought and died to secure our independence as a nation so as to provide the liberties and benefits we are now afforded as citizens of this great nation. Our freedom was purchased with their blood! We honor them by remembering their sacrifice and living in the freedom they purchased for us.

We live in a culture that bombards us with demands for self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency is the mindset that says, “I can handle this.” “Look at all I’ve done.” or “If I need God, I will give Him a call.” An elevated view of myself always comes from a low view of God.

Ben Patterson said, “We have trivialized God.” If we are honest with ourselves, we are consistently guilty of downsizing God. When we do, we invariably upsize ourselves. We have been duped into believing our own press clippings and not enough of God’s Word. Forgetting who is ultimately responsible for our success, we are seduced into believing that we are self-sufficient and we don’t need God. The consequences could not be more tragic.

In 2 Chronicles 26, we find the account of an Old Testament king who suffered the consequences of becoming self-sufficient. Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king of Judah; he ruled 52 years and “did right in the sight of the Lord.” The historian Jerome said, “The national glory of Israel died with King Uzziah and has never returned to this day.”

Uzziah was brilliant in many areas. He was a builder. He built Eloth (vs 2), cities around Ashdod (vs 6), towers in the wilderness and on the gates of Jerusalem, as well as fortified corner buttresses on the walls (vs 9-10). He was an agriculturalist; he built cisterns in the dry arid land of Israel to water his livestock, crops, and vineyards (vs 10). He was a military mastermind and inventor. According to verse 15, Uzziah was responsible for the creation of the crossbow and catapults.

Biblically, a posture is a physical position in worship that reflects the heart's attitude of reverence towards God and our dependence on Him. At the beginning of this year, the Lord impressed on us that there are six postures—six mindsets—that He wants to undergird and inform our prayers for Forgiving Forward.

• All for God’s Glory

• Jesus Focused

• Shepherd Led

• Gospel-Centric

• Abiding Trust

• Self Denied

This is the sixth in a series of blogs unpacking each of the postures that guide the ministry of Forgiving Forward. The sixth posture is:

Self Denied

He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

Matthew 10:39

Could it be that the biggest challenge to God's glory and position in our lives is us? Is it possible that we have met our own worst enemy, and it’s the dude or dudette staring back at us in the mirror?

“I have now concentrated all my prayers into one, and that one prayer is this, that I may die to self, and live wholly to Him.”

Charles H. Spurgeon

At the core of the original sin in Genesis 3 was the lure of self-determination, of choosing our will over God’s will, our choice over God’s command. With two bites of the fruit, the flesh of mankind was born, which spread into the DNA of every one of Adam’s descendants, all the way down to you and me. The flesh is the spiritual force that dwells within us which is anti-God and produces sin in us.  As long as our earthsuits are breathing, even after we move from death to Life in Jesus, the flesh entices us to continue to eat from the same tree our first father tasted. And we do—constantly—and everything becomes about ME, what I want, what I think I need over God’s will. It always ends with the same results—Death! Not the same spiritual death Adam and Eve experienced, but relational death. We are still God’s children, but we lose the joy of His Life in us.

Biblically, a posture is a physical position in worship that reflects the heart's attitude of reverence towards God and our dependence on Him. At the beginning of this year, the Lord impressed on us that there are six postures—six mindsets—that He wants to undergird and inform our prayers for Forgiving Forward.

• All for God’s Glory 

• Jesus Focused 

• Shepherd Led

• Gospel-Centric

• Abiding Trust

• Self Denied

This is the fifth in a series of blogs unpacking each of the postures that guide the ministry of Forgiving Forward. The fifth posture is:

Abiding Trust

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him,

he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

Several years ago, I heard Chip Ingram share that he had read a chapter in A. W. Tozer’s classic book The Knowledge of the Holy, which is an examination of the attributes of God, every day for over 30 years. Because I respect Chip, I was intrigued, so I decided to give it a shot. Since that time, my morning routine includes reading a chapter of Tozer’s book every day. There are 23 chapters, and when I finish chapter 23, I start over with chapter 1. I read it about 15 times a year. Why? The main reason lies in two statements Tozer makes in the book. The first line of the first chapter reads, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” The second statement is found in the preface, “The low of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of 100 lesser evils everywhere among us.” Tozer’s overarching premise is that our view of God determines and impacts everything we think, say, and do. 

As I continue to saturate my mind with the attributes of God that He has revealed to us in His word, my perspectives on everything have been re-ordered and renewed. I have found that the more I get to know God, the more I find myself trusting Him more and trusting myself less. But it is a challenge, isn’t it? Here’s Tozer again, “Left to ourselves, we tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms. We want to get Him where we can use Him, or at least know where He is when we need Him. We want a God we can, in some measure, control.” I don’t know about you, but I tend to downsize God regularly. How often do we view God as the “Heavenly Express Card,” something we keep hidden in our wallet and whip out when we need Him? The problem is that when we downsize God, we upsize ourselves, which is the root cause of most, if not all, of our troubles. The essence of idolatry, according to Tozer, is “the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” Ouch!

Our Postures—Part Four

As I shared in the previous blogs, Toni and I spend time together at the beginning of each year seeking God’s heart for Forgiving Forward. The key question we ask is, “Lord, what do You want us to ask You for in the coming year?” This year, as Toni and I sat together, listening and processing, God took us back to the basics so that we could codify what had been our heart posture all along. Biblically, a posture is a physical position in worship that reflects the heart's attitude of reverence towards God and our dependence on Him. The Lord gave us six postures—six mindsets—that will undergird and inform our prayers for Forgiving Forward.

• All for God’s Glory

• Jesus Focused

• Shepherd Led

• Gospel-Centric

• Abiding Trust

• Self Denied

This is the fourth in a series of blogs unpacking each of the postures that guide the ministry of Forgiving Forward. In the previous blogs, we discussed “All for God's Glory,” “Jesus Focused,” and “Shepherd Led.” The fourth posture is:

Gospel-Centric

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2

One of the main concerns I have with most forgiveness models, including the one I used to follow, is that they do not address the “who pays?” question. When someone wounds us, there is a loss—something is damaged, a debt is incurred. Forgiveness requires the settling of the debt. Just choosing to forgive someone doesn’t eliminate the impact of what happened. The debt remains and must be addressed. Forgiveness simply shifts the responsibility for the debt from the one who caused it to someone else who will cover it. In most models of forgiveness, that someone else is us. Basically, intentionally or by default, we absorb the debt. We may deny it, “I’m OK, it doesn’t matter—It’s no big deal.” Or we may excuse it, “ They’re hurting. They didn’t mean to hurt me.” In either case, we absorb the unresolved debt, which will ultimately lead to bitterness and pride. “It’s not right, but look how spiritual I am!” However, in the Gospel, Jesus is the One who pays the debt. Jesus became human so that He could fully satisfy our sin debt to God by shedding His righteous blood on the Cross. Jesus, being fully God and fully human, was the only one who could pay that debt and thereby establish the basis for our forgiveness, restoring us to a relationship with God so that we could live His Life.

As I shared in the previous blogs, Toni and I spend time together at the beginning of each year seeking God’s heart for Forgiving Forward. The key question we ask is, “Lord, what do You want us to ask You for in the coming year?” This year, as Toni and I sat together, listening and processing, God took us back to the basics so that we could codify what had been our heart posture all along. Biblically, a posture is a physical position in worship that reflects the heart's attitude of reverence towards God and our dependence on Him. The Lord gave us six postures—six mindsets—that will undergird and inform our prayers for Forgiving Forward.

• All for God’s Glory

• Jesus Focused

• Shepherd Led

• Gospel-Centric

• Abiding Trust

• Self Denied

This is the third in a series of blog posts unpacking each of the postures that guide the ministry of Forgiving Forward. In the previous blogs, we discussed “All for God's Glory” and “Jesus Focused.” The third posture is:

Shepherd Led

The mind of a person plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

Most organizations and ministries spend considerable time developing their ten-year, five-year, and one-year plans, as well as their purpose, mission, and value statements. The strategy is to develop their long-term plan, then break it down into manageable action steps to get them there in the short term. So naturally, we are often asked, “What is your ministry plan?” I always answer the same way. Our ministry plan is “Savior, like a Shepherd, lead us.” That’s it! That’s all I’ve got because that’s all we need.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m OK with strategic plans. We have them, and we do use a calendar. We have a purpose statement, a passion statement, and a mission statement. They’re helpful in many ways as we lead Forgiving Forward, but they must be held loosely. We believe that the One who is the head of the ministry must be the One who guides the ministry. Jesus is the head of the ministry, and He gets to lead it. Our plan is to follow Him!

As I shared in the previous blog, Toni and I spend time together at the beginning of each year seeking God’s heart for Forgiving Forward. The key question we ask is, “Lord, what do You want us to ask You for in the coming year?” This year, as Toni and I sat together, listening and processing, God took us back to the basics so that we could codify what had been our heart posture all along. Biblically, a posture is a physical position in worship that reflects the heart's attitude of reverence towards God and our dependence on Him. The Lord gave us six postures—six mindsets—that will undergird and inform our prayers for Forgiving Forward.

• All for God‘s Glory 

• Jesus Focused 

• Shepherd/Spirit Led

• Gospel-Centric

• Abiding Trust

• Self Denied

This is the second in a series of blogs unpacking each posture that guides the ministry of Forgiving Forward. In the previous blog, we discussed the first posture: “All for God’s Glory.” The second posture is:

Jesus Focused