Who Deserves Forgiveness?

I know a man who many years ago had a great job with a good company in a community I used to live in.  Unfortunately he fell into the wrong crowd and began smoking pot with some of his co-workers.  The same group had a sexual connection in that they would smoke pot and have orgies occasionally during their off hours.

The pot was sold and sometimes consumed in the parking lot where he worked.  As with most things like this, if you do it long enough you will get caught and they did.  The local law enforcement investigated and charged many of them including the man in this story.  He was charged with drug trafficing.  He was tried and found guilty. He admitted to it.  He was also fired from his job.

This man spent the next few years trying to get his life back together.  Fortunately he has a mother who is a Christian and she prayed for him and helped him in every way possible.

This young man served his time in jail, got out and he began counseling that he continues with to this day.

He became a Christian but even years after being forgiven by God and his mother he is still paying the price. He goes to church, he is a solid Christian, it is evident in his life, but even his own church will not let him become a decon because of his past.  People in the community, Christians, will not talk to him at all.

I was at a restaurant one day with several youth from our church when this man walked in.  One of the kids in my group made a rude comment about him.  This child wasn't even born when the man committed the crime.  I asked the child where his comments came from.  He said everyone knows he is a criminal.  I explained to the child how this man was forgiven for his sin and accepted by God.  I explained Matthew 6:15, "If you do not forgive man their sins, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your sins."

This poor man is forgiven by God but not by many in the Christian community.

Why is it that people who call themselves Christians lack the ability to forgive people who have a past like the man in this story?  Where do they find the Biblical example to behave in this manner?

Think of the woman who was brought to Jesus having committed adultery.  What did Jesus say to her?

The story of the woman caught in the act of adultery can be found in John 8:3-12

The answer to the title of this posting can be quickly found in the title of the previous post.   Whoever Believes.

Whoever Believes

To me the two words "whoever believes" found in John 3:16 are the easiest words to understand in the bible, but for some reason they get so complicated in the world in which we live.

Whoever believes means anyone or everyone who hears the gospel of Jesus Christ and makes the choice to believe and follow in His ways.  It is such a simple concept and we complicate it.

Having been a pastor I have seen the wide range of reasons why someone couldn't possibly be a Christian because of some issue in the past.  I've heard people say, "but they must suffer the consequences their sin." In short many people who call themselves Christian think that non-believers should pay for their sin.  No, Jesus did that.  He paid for our sin.  All we have to do is received it.

John 3:17 spells it out clearly, "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved."

So if God does not condemn the world why do we?  The bottom line here is Christ came for ALL, even non-believers, even if we as believer; don't really like them, even if they make our life difficult, even if they have caused problems in our life.

He came for all.