Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada on this, Pastoral Care Week.
That’s right! This is the week when we honor our pastors, those wonderful Christian leaders who teach us the Word and who counsel us from the Bible. These valiant men study hard – and I know my pastor, Bob Bjerkaas, is always striving to share with us fresh insights from the Word of God. Like last Sunday…
He had us in the book of Genesis, the third chapter – and he explained that when the woman took Adam the fruit to eat, she was still just “the woman.” Adam had not yet named her. It wasn’t until after they sinned, after they received their curse from God, that Adam named her. I’m sure when Adam learned that there would now be pain and disappointment; that now they would die; that they were under this awful curse, I’m sure Adam was very tempted to name her all sorts of things. He could have named her “stupid” or “easily-deceived” or “gullible” or he could’ve even named her “listener to snakes!” Such names would have forever branded her as disobedient; as the guilty one. She would be forever known as the temptress who ruined things for everybody. Adam could have held a grudge when he named her. And who would have blamed him? Who would have faulted Adam for keeping a record of her wrongs? But instead, with great mercy, Adam called the woman “Eve” which means “life giver” and that to me is amazing. Because it was through the sin of Eve – Eve who took the fruit and then gave it to her husband – it was her act of disobedience that brought on the curse of death. Yet here, in Genesis chapter 3, verse 20, it says, “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.”
And you know what? This is a lesson for you and for me, because there are people all around you who bring trouble into your life – coworkers and relatives, neighbors and friends. They do something stupid, something thoughtless or reckless – some hasty, careless, irresponsible act, choice or decision – and it forever changes your life. Who would blame you for holding a grudge? Who would fault you for wanting to shame that person, and remind him daily that he disappointed you or wronged you or crossed you?! No one would blame you. But the God of the Bible calls us to a higher standard. In I Corinthians 13, we are reminded not to hold grudges. The blame game is not the way Christians relate to others. Rather, I Corinthians 13 tells us that love should be patient and not proud. “[Love] is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs [did you hear that?] Love does not delight in evil. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.”
Friend, has it ever occurred to you that God permitted your neighbor or relative to commit that rash thoughtless act that harmed you and has changed your life? Has it occurred to you that God allowed it so that He might put on display His tender mercies through you? That you might supernaturally forgive and thus glorify the mercy of God in not only the life of the offender, but in your life? Luke chapter 17, verse 4 says that if a person “sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' you are still to forgive him.” Nothing showcases the mercy of God more powerfully than when you forgive. It was a lesson taught by our pastor at church this past Sunday. And it’s a lesson I pass on to you on this week when we honor our pastors.
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