Pastor Buddy’s Blog

Journal,

This week is my final week where I am supposed to be extra cautious about? visitors and being in public. The plus side is that my physical strength is being renewed day by day.? I can feel myself becoming stronger all the time.?

As I shared earlier we are heading for Orange Beach, Alabama, early Sunday morning. Need a good time of refreshing. We’ll return? sometime Wednesday. Hope to be in services at Christian Challenge Wednesday evening.

Here’s a bit on the funny side. Ever since CJ snubbed his nose at the dog food we’d been giving him, each morning I’ll take some? dog food and put it in a pan for the squirrels and birds.? They love it.

Well, one? squirrel pretty much claimed ownership to the dog food. The other squirrels would keep their distance. Of course the birds would sneak in at the proper time. It was funny to watch the? ‘ownership’ squirrel turn into a roly poly.? Course I felt sorry for the other squirrels.

Then I decided to put out two pans of dog food. Spaced them far enough apart where ‘ownership’ squirrel couldn’t possess both pans. Great idea. Now I have squirrels, birds, and even a coon coming up to dine to their heart’s content. (Poor old CJ just has fits when he sees the coon.)? ?

This brings me to a bit of study devotion I’d like to share. I’ll entitle it…

Taking Ownership for Your Life.

In my 40+ years of ministry I have seen a great many healings. Many of them were a direct result of forgiveness. Over time I came to realize that the most important factor in a believer’s life is in learning to come to peace with the past, but also to take personal ownership for? sins and failures in life.

Let me simply say upfront that I do not believe that sickness or disease is necessarily the result of personal failure. We live in a disease driven world. Yet a truth remains that some of our anguishes in life are because we have not taken ownership for our own misdeeds.?

The sage said, “My son, give attention to my words; incline your heart to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs (outgoings) of life.” (Pro4:20-23)

The point is that what is going on in our own hearts will determine the boundaries or the outflowings of our own life. It can be said that we give shape to our? life by what is in our own heart.

The Hebrew word for ’springs’ is the word ‘tosaah.’ This is a geographical word. It speaks of a boundary or a source. Its reflective meaning addresses ‘goings forth’ or ‘outgoings’ or ‘forces.’ The answer? Learn to set a guard over your heart.

David draws attention to this with regard to the man who refused to bless others. Listen carefully:

“Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness, but persecuted the afflicted and needy man, and the despondent in heart, to put them to death. He also loved cursing, so it came to him; and he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. But he clothed himself with cursings as with his garment, and it entered into his body like water and like oil into his bones. It came to him as a garment which he covers himself…” (Psalm 109:16-19)

Next we need to talk about ‘roots of bitterness.’ Esau held a grudge against Isaac. He became a bitter man and his bitterness likely affected his whole household. Without retelling the story it is enough to say that this is? the way bitterness works. Bitterness defiles those around us. Thus bitterness can become a defiling thing in our own life.

Most bitterness is a result of not having forgiven someone. We carry the unforgiveness in our heart. It is not a matter of whether the person deserves forgiveness, or even if they have asked for forgiveness. It is a matter of what is going on ‘inside’ us. The real key to life is learning to? keep one’s own spiritual life pure.

We have a perfect example of this on the cross. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. For they don’t know what they are doing.” When Jesus said, “Father, forgive them,” was this not the message of the cross? Are we not forgiven on the basis of a life exchange with Jesus? Jesus gave His life up for us. Are we not to learn to live in this flow of forgiveness? Are we not to forgive?

We also hear this with the first Christian martyr. Stephen said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” In neither case were the peoples asking for forgiveness.

What many don’t realize is that unforgiveness is a sin. It is a sin because we are under commandment to forgive. We are also under commanded to walk in love the way Jesus walked. The Lord pointed out that a walk of true faith revolves around forgiveness. He said, “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.” (Mark 11:25)

The issue is that unless we learn to make peace in our hearts with the past, we will indeed suffer in the now.

But there is another issue that I need to mention. Did you know that the number one hospital patient bed in this country is contributed to some form of mental disorder? Of course mental disturbances are real. But is it not possible that many mental disorders are a result of our not taking ownership for one’s own conduct. We are so afraid to call sin, sin today. It is so much easier to blame our problems on something or someone else.

We use words like disfunctional, socially impaired, victims of bad upbringing. We’ve fallen into the Adam syndrome; “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate.” (Gen3:12)

The Biblical answer is to take ownership for our own choices in life. The apostle John lays this out very well:

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:5-9)

Did you catch the term, ‘our sins’? When we take ownership for our sins, we are then in a position for our forgiveness and our? cleansing from whatever? deed of unrighteousness had made a deposit in? our lives.?

Perhaps I should point out that this is where good pastoral counselling or other spiritual? counselling can help.? Once ownership is in place, then cleansing is soon to follow. It is not enough to simply ‘medicate’ a sin problem. Sin is a defiler and unless sin is dealt with as sin, there is no true cure.

The answer? Take ownership for your life.

Yes, sin is a power and temptations are very real. But so are choices. James tells us not to be deceived in this area. He wrote:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (James 1:13-16)?

As a way of encouragement it is important to understand that when I speak of ‘taking ownership’, I am not talking about salvation in itself. Jesus took ownership of our lives when we came to the cross. The Bible teaches that we are a God-possessed people and that nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus.

As a God-possessed people, we can be sure that the Lord is always at work in the background of our lives. He will cause everything in our lives to work together for good.

Remember that we are the children of the great King.? Our sins were forgiven at the cross. What we need to do now is? to learn to walk in the cleansing love of the cross.

So what does taking ownership mean? It? means to take? responsibility for a great many things that happen in our lives.? No more blaming others.

Think about it.

The Lord bless you,

Buddy

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