These soldiers of the Tomb of the Unknowns are dedicated to guarding the Tomb by walking twenty-one steps, back-and-forth, until they are relieved of their duties. While guarding, they must hold their rifle with white gloves, which are always wet to prevent the gun from slipping, and the weapon is never to be between the soldier and the Tomb. He spends about six hours a day preparing his outfit that must always be perfect, and he must reside in a barracks underneath the tomb during his service time. During his first six months of duty, he cannot talk to anyone and all of his off-duty time is to be spent studying the 175 notable people who are laid to rest in the cemetery. He must memorize each of them, including where they are buried. After two years of being tested, tried, and proven as a guard, the soldier is given a reef pin that can be worn on his lapel, signifying that he has served the Tomb of the Unknowns. All guards must continue to follow these rules for the rest of their lives.

These soldiers’ lives and commitment level are models of how we, as Christians, are called to dedicate ourselves to the Lord, Jesus Christ. Being a true Christian is a lifelong commitment, and it’s not an easy one. If it were easy, anybody would be able to do it.

It is an honor to serve God.  God chose us to be soldiers to Him and to serve in the capacity that He has called us to do. He has anointed us with the highest honor and we cannot let him down.

The soldier’s white gloves that hold his rifle should be a symbol to our relationship with God. Our white gloves should always be damp to prevent losing grip from Him and there should never be anything separating us from Him. We must never let slip what God has given us to do.

Additionally, as Christians, our service terms never end. Although we do not have pins on our lapels that signify our service, we should always act as though we have one on at all times.

“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to be faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore ensure hardness, as a soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warrant entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” -2 Timothy 2:1-4

But the real problem is within ourselves; it’s inside of us. The Bible says that if every one of us does not forgive from our hearts, then everyone is a trespasser and it’s not true forgiveness.   We have to learn to forgive others the way that God has forgiven us. Think about it. How many times has God said to you, “You know, I just don’t think I can forgive you this time.” Never. God always gives us a chance to get it right with Him. So how is it so hard for us to forgive others? The reasons we find it so hard to forgive is because of pride and arrogance. Forgiveness is for strong people that don’t let their ego get the best of them. Instead of being full of pride, mature believers desire rightstanding with God. The challenge is, however, that to be right with God, we have to be right with the people that have done us wrong. 

 The last thing the devil wants you to do is forgive because you are never more like God when you forgive. This week, I challenge you to develop a new holy habit: study the following scriptures, meditate on them, and seek opportunities to practice the act of forgiveness. 

  “In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.” The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth…” –Numbers 14:19-21

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” –Colossians 3:13

I heard a story once about a talented organ player who was performing one night. He was moving beautifully through the music when suddenly he was struck by the Spirit of God, turned around, and started playing the organ backwards. The person telling me this story said that the organ player never missed a beat. It seemed to come to him effortlessly, and it looked as if it came naturally. This is an example of God at work, anointing his son.

When you are anointed by God, you have the Lord flowing through you with His heart touching yours. The Holy Spirit flows as a river of love through the hearts of believers, bringing life to all that receive His touch. God anoints people that love Him and demonstrate His love and power. When we are anointed with a gift from God and we agree with him to flow in it for His glory, it seems from the outside to come effortless to us.

What is your anointing? What gifts did God give you to impact the lives of others? What have you done this week, this month, this year to refine and grow your capacity to use the gift? Have you been privately practicing throwing rocks with the slingshot He gave you, in anticipation of one day having a Goliath to slay publicly?

What has God called you to do that has the opportunity to witness to others as an outward sign of His love flowing through you?

 When we hate, we actually hurt. Jesus wants to teach you to hurt without the hate.  Here’s the thing about hate: We start hating because the hurt we feel was an account with someone that never got reconciled. It’s something that we thought we dealt with but we never actually did, according to the scriptures. If we have instructions in the Bible on how to treat our hurt and we don’t follow them, then what we’re really saying is, “God, I don’t believe you.”  When that happens, we then move from hurt to hate and because we hate, we find ourselves sliding into a place of disbelief. Subsequently and consequently, when you’re in disbelief, you cannot possibly please God.  

It’s a slippery slope. But you can get off any time. 

We need to learn to reconcile that hurt instead of letting the hate build up in us. We need to learn to trust God with all of our problems. The Bible says that forgiveness can actually unbundle hate and take that hate out of the hurt. Truth be told, some people don’t allow themselves to take the hate out because it’s easier to hold onto and preserve pride, and instead end up wrapped up in their own presumption and arrogance. 

 Don’t let yourself live wrapped up in hate. Don’t wait on an apology from a person; trust me, most of the time it may never come. Are you willing to wait 20, 30, 40 years to release it, waiting on an apology and continue to let that offense, that hate, stand in the way of your blessings God has in store for you? Repent to God and be forgiven the way He has forgiven us. 

 If you forgive, God can take that hate out of your hurt and once it is out, He can heal everywhere else you are hurt.

 One of the most frustrating things in life is to have little or incorrect direction and guidance on the way to a destination or goal. If we can’t see the finish line, and I don’t have a clear map to help me find it, most of us will grow weary and, many times, quit or give up from exhaustion after a series of wrong turns, derailments, and constant u-turns seeing the same scenery over and over on the way and on the way back. 

Think of the Bible as the ultimate instruction manual by which to live life, given to you by the manufacturer Himself! It has everything we need for any situation, storm and opportunity; it gives us step-by-step guidance and answers that we might have along the way, and helps direct us to our final destination of Heaven as well as our purpose and destiny here on earth.  

Many of us are too stubborn to receive and follow the instructions when we get frustrated, for fear of admitting that we are lost and need help. But we all need help to live the Christian life. We need to know how to use the instructions that the Bible gives us. 

This week, find a weakness in your life and look to the Bible for guidance. Read the instructions, learn how to overcome the weakness, and apply the instruction to your life to reach your final destination.

Think about this for a minute: God, the creator of everything, has commissioned us to be His Light, to tell of His glory, to bask in it, and breathe it. He depends on us to spread His word and spread the Light.  

Wow…what a humbling honor, and truthfully, a bit intimidating task for many!

Here’s the real challenge: For some people, the Light has burnt out. They’ve fallen off track from God’s path, hid behind the covers, and got lost in the dark. The Light may have gone out in them, but the Light is still burning in God’s house. If I’m talking to you, the good news is, it can begin to flicker and burn again in you! It’s way more than an opportunity; it’s a command, in fact, an assignment. God depends on us (His houses, His representatives, His creation) to continue to be the keepers of His Lighthouse.  

If He counts on us, and He created you, do you think the chances are pretty high that He’s equipped you with everything you’ll need, when you need it?  

In the past, God may have winked at your ignorance when you were a new Christian and were still learning. But for most of us, we are, or should be, past that stage of ignorance. God doesn’t wink at us for our mistakes now and He doesn’t excuse us from wandering into the dark occasionally. Now, we are expected to stay in the Light of God and in order to do that, we must repent for the mistakes we’ve made. 

 Today: Ask for, and let God forgive you, for past mistakes. Making your past your past is your present (gift) for your present. Stay and walk in the light…it’s where you belong and where you were created to be.

Except for Christopher Columbus.

When he looked, he saw what none of us saw. He saw the potential of another side, another day, another land. Another future.

And what he saw…not evident to the naked eye…became more real to him than the shore he stood on, and that was the motivation he needed, the fuel that propelled him toward everything seemingly uncertain, away from everything certain.

This guy must’ve been nuts! Or was he?

That’s a unique kind of person. As believers, we sometimes have to have that kind of pioneering spirit, the kind who looks toward what seems like an eternal voyage, and finds a voice inside us that says, “we gotta go.”

What’s even more amazing, is that Christopher Columbus believed in this vision and journey so much, he convinced others to go with him!

Who goes to the ocean, 400 years ago, to get in a wooden boat where you can’t even see for 1,000,000 miles? Honestly, if it had been me, I’d probably have kept the shore line in sight.

Are you double-minded? Are you divided? The word, literally, means di-vision…two visions. Can you give up sight of the shoreline, and focus all your sight on the prize promised that you can’t see externally?

Jesus said that…you gotta go deep. Give up security and venture away from what you know.

Today, ask yourself what shoreline you’ve been standing on, while dreaming of another. Maybe you’ve begun venturing out. I promise you this: As long as you keep the old shoreline in sight, you’ll always have the option to go back.

“I do” usually is easier than “I WILL.”

You don’t consummate the wedding on the honeymoon. The act of consummation is so fun, most people do it outside of vows. But the vows are actually consummated in front of God. If you think about the four general stages of relationship, it usually goes like this:

Ecstasy (where you been all my life), then reality (feet stink), then confrontation (never heard this side of you, I’m kinda scared, and I have a point of view on it too!), and then a 4^th stage, reconciliation.

We get angry in significant relationships, whether it’s with a person we serve in leadership, a spouse, even God, but at some point we come to a place of peaceful resolve (Not my will, but YOUR will Lord).

So what do you do while you’re waiting for the resolve? I gotta believe that Jesus knew I could withstand the pain that comes before the reconciliation. In fact, I believe it’s a required part of the process. Let me explain.

Second Corinthians says He wouldn’t give me a temptation I couldn’t escape. God is faithful, plain and simple, and until we see the manifestation of His promises in our life, we as Christians need to mature, cause God’s not Santa.

“But Pastor, what God has me going through is different than what you’ve had to endure, what my parents, others had to…that’s not fair!” Wake-up call: The Bible doesn’t say He’s a fair God, it says He’s a just God. In a covenant contract, BOTH parties are held to certain standards and responsibilities. Within that contract, there’s an understanding that both will perform to best of ability what’s required in the contract.

God says that about His relationship with us. He says, in essence, “I’m not just a good-time Charlie.” Just like a tree that brings the biggest harvest ever, the master gardener still prunes it! Why? So it can feel the pain of the cutting? No. It’s pruned so it can be sure to produce more fruit!

There’s an old saying, “You live and learn.” One of the purposes of living is to learn! Paul said He learned to be content in any season. Jesus learned obedience in every stage and season. Why live if not learning? TO me, it’s like getting the water without the wet. While no one welcomes the friction associated with dear relationships, Jesus said “let me just focus on the joy, ‘cause if I can’t find the joy on the other side, what I have to endure will wear me down.” So He did (to the cross) and set an example for us.

What are you enduring? If you’re being pruned, count it joy. Bigger blooms and bigger life are destined to break out on the other side.

Here’s my challenge today for you. Not tomorrow, not next week, not something to contemplate and tell your story of the offense to three people to get them on your side…the challenge right now, as you’re reading this…

Let me say it plain: No matter how much hurt you felt and how much pain somebody may have caused you, forgive them. Right now. Stop, and choose to forgive.

Forgive them the way that God has forgiven you every day. When you put what they did to hurt you in perspective of what we have done to hurt God, it doesn’t seem so important anymore, does it? See, God doesn’t hold a grudge against us or make us feel guilty for a few weeks while thinking about it. He doesn’t go to the angels and rally them to get on His side. He doesn’t think evil thoughts and wish you harm. No matter what it is, He stands waiting for us to repent and He really wants to forgive us; He forgives us the second we ask for forgiveness.

Remember that you are never, ever more like the Father than when you forgive. When God sees us moving forward in forgiveness, it makes His heart sing. If you ever want to know how forgiveness should work, let it start with you.

When you start forgiving the way (and as often and as freely) as God forgives us, you’ll have a heart that finds it easier and easier, over time, to forgive any and everybody at all times. Remember, that which a man soweth…that shall he….

(reap)…

If so, you’re in great company, because the Word (and His track record) shows us that God’s not a respecter of persons.

In the scriptures, Martha was busy, Mary was attentive, and Elijah was anointed one day and depressed the next.

Naomi was an outsider, but God included her. Peter was impulsive.

John was easy to love, but Moses at times had an anger management problem. Miriam had a jealous streak.  Aaron could be negatively influenced by people.

Joshua stood firm, but David had to overcome being with a woman who was not his wife. Jonah learned that to obey God is always the best way.

I could go on, but you get my point. Friend, wherever your life fits on a list of what’s good or bad, God has you in mind. If you can trust your life to Him, then His promises are yours, His blessings are yours, and everything that damaged you fades into the forgettable past.

Where’s your security? Simple: The exercise of your faith in God is what secures His future for you.  You are not gone. You are not done.

And…you are not forgotten.

God is planning to shock your critics when He brings you out alive and kicking from the graveyard of where others left you for dead!  It’s time to shout my friend, because your worst is over….and the best is yet to come!

Do you believe it?