Past the Mess - The Watch Letter

In college, I had a DVD of my favorite movie. I played it so much that it was scratched up. When I would watch the movie it would skip and get stuck. But I wanted to watch the movie, so I would wait for the skipping to stop or fast forward to get to the rest of the movie. 

This came to mind when I was reading notes from a special prayer service we had this past Wednesday. 

Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn said in order for us to be free, we have to let go of the past, grudges, where we have been defrauded and hurt. He said we have to choose to “look past the mess.”

Like the DVD, how many times have we driven on a road full of potholes, uneven lanes, and dents to get to work, school, or elsewhere? We looked past the undesirable for something that meant more. Our choice to get to our destination was greater than the mess. 

This makes me think about how Jesus looked past the messy ways people treated him in order to stay faithful. He wanted us to be saved so he looked past our faults.

What if he got so offended by how he was treated and rejected that he refused to go to the cross?

Chief Apostle Gunn reminded us that the Lord said, “Vengeance belongs to him” and that we don’t have to live a life of “self-defense.” He said, “When you’re bitter, nothing gets better.”

We must trust God to deal with the hearts of the people that wronged us. When we act in self-defense, we aren’t giving God a chance to correct that person in a way that will get their attention to cause change. 

Chief Apostle Gunn said we can’t let someone and what they do to us control how we obey God. 

The other day he reminded me about Luke 23:33-34:

When they came to Calvary, they crucified him with the criminals. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

After that, it says:

-People stood staring and watching him suffer.

-The rulers and soldiers mocked him and challenged him to prove he was Christ by saving himself. 

-They taunted him and offered him bitter vinegar.

Before this, Luke 23 says:

-Jesus heard his own people cry “Crucify him.”

-People questioned his kingship and sonship. 

-With hate they falsely accused him.

Yet, Jesus never defended himself. I noticed Luke 23 focuses on the verbal and emotional attacks on Jesus, even though we know he experienced much more physical abuse on our behalf. 

I believe God pointed this out to show we don’t have to be moved by what people say and feel about us. Jesus heard and felt the worst words and things in history, yet he didn’t back up, retaliate, or hate. He didn’t disobey or get angry with God. He chose forgiveness because he wanted to please his father and people to be free from sin. He knew eternal hell was worse than what he was experiencing.

Jesus refused to let emotions rule. He let the spirit of God rule instead. Chief Apostle Gunn said that the saints refuse to grow up because they choose to stay emotionally immature. But we can grow up in God.

Going back to Luke 23:34. Look at what Jesus did. Right there on the cross in the midst of emotional and physical pain, he poured out to the Father. His asking God to forgive the people, was giving him strength, focus, courage, relief, and hope to complete his mission.

What Jesus did is what Chief Apostle Gunn said God is calling for today: To pour out to Him in prayer. He said, “When you pour out anger and disappointment, God will pour into you.” He said God is urging us to take misunderstandings, disagreements, and letdowns to prayer, so we can get up with “humility,” “selflessness” and a mind to “yield to the truth and not fight it.”  

He said, “Prayerlessness is hell.” Without prayer, our minds can’t be changed.