{"id":7487,"date":"2016-03-23T21:32:41","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T21:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7487"},"modified":"2016-03-23T22:33:48","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T22:33:48","slug":"offenses-in-election-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7487","title":{"rendered":"Offenses in election season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, \u2018I repent,\u2019 forgive him.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The apostles said to the Lord, \u201cIncrease our faith!\u201d<\/em> Luke 17:3-5<\/p>\n

Have you noticed recently how touchy our society has gotten? Everywhere I turn I\u2019m seeing verbal slap fights between all kinds of folks!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s gotten more intense lately because of the hotly contested primary season and soon-to-come presidential campaigns.<\/p>\n

Even among believers: “I like this party and you like the other”. If you and I aren\u2019t careful, we can come to blows verbally.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps you and I share<\/em> a general party preference. I like one primary candidate and you like another. Well, I\u2019ve felt the \u201cwrath of God\u201d pour out against my audacity\/stupidity\/dullness-of-heart in supporting\u00a0one person\u00a0over \u201cGod\u2019s chosen candidate\u201d\u2014and this from dear believing people!<\/em> But one such friend confided in me that she’s feeling the same<\/em> \u201crighteous indignation\u201d directed at her<\/em> from Christians who support the candidate I <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0like. Oi vey!<\/p>\n

Jesus told us to be on our guard. Life is weird, and there are many potholes and pitfalls along the way. And some of the most deceitfully dangerous snares to be found occur in our everyday interactions with each other\u2014especially with those we love or are more closely connected to.<\/p>\n

Why? Because none of us are perfect. You can rub me the wrong way with your words, attitude, or ways, and Lord knows I can do the same to you! Thoughtlessness happens; and you and I are\u00a0both<\/em> capable of sinning against each other in word\u00a0or deed.<\/p>\n

What is Jesus\u2019 input when someone messes with your peace? Blast their credibility? Give them the cold shoulder? Brand them as a despicable reprobate?<\/p>\n

No; Jesus directs you to go to them personally and address the sin (by the way, disagreeing on candidates is not included on the list of verifiable offenses). If they repent, then let it drop. Don\u2019t hold it over their head for all of eternity.<\/p>\n

And if they sin again, forgive them again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the crux of the whole forgiveness deal:<\/p>\n

The disciples didn\u2019t say in response to Jesus’ forgiveness admonition, \u201cEasy peasy; piece of cake<\/em>.\u201d Instead, they cried, \u201cIncrease our faith!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, the hardest thing to overcome\u00a0won’t\u00a0be a\u00a0natural<\/em> obstacle\u2014a financial, material, or physical need;\u00a0the hardest<\/em> thing you’ll face is dealing with offenses! And trust me: Offenses are a dime a dozen\u2014and they pile up, bloat, and\u00a0stretch out\u00a0with gluttonous tentacles that wind around the life of the person\u00a0who refuses to let them go.<\/p>\n

Back to the campaign trail. If you witness or are assaulted yourself by the zeal of political zealots during this election season, and you are determined to hold your own and refuse to give up ground\u2026remember this: You live in an imperfect world with imperfect\u2014albeit loved-by-God\u2014people.<\/p>\n

And although you have the right\u2014and even the responsibility at times\u2014to state your opinion about all matters politic, you are beholden only to One, the Lord Jesus Christ\u2014not to Ted Cruz, not to Donald Trump, not to John Kasich, not to Bernie Sanders, not to Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n

If you feel the wrath and righteous indignation of others\u00a0rising up\u00a0against you\u2014and your own<\/em> rising up\u00a0against them in return\u2014step away for a minute, take a breath, look to Heaven and whisper, \u201cLord! Increase my faith!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

And because of the intensity of our current political climate, I want to offer a prayer for all<\/em> of us:<\/p>\n

Lord, help<\/em> us as we navigate this weird, wacky, windy, wind-fest of an election season! Lord\u2014Increase our faith!<\/em><\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, \u2018I repent,\u2019 forgive him.\u201d The apostles said to the Lord, \u201cIncrease our faith!\u201d Luke 17:3-5 Have you noticed recently how touchy our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-praying-for-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7487"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7503,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7487\/revisions\/7503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}