The Gray Area

2 Samuel  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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2 Samuel 3:22–39 ESV
Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. When Joab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Joab, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.” Then Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.” When Joab came out from David’s presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it. And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!” So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon. Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier. They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. And the king lamented for Abner, saying, “Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands were not bound; your feet were not fettered; as one falls before the wicked you have fallen.” And all the people wept again over him. Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, “God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!” And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to put to death Abner the son of Ner. And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!”
This week I stumbled across an article by the Gospel Coalition about what they dubbed “moral gray areas.” They listed 15 common examples of actions that some Christians would consider sinful, some would not, and some would say “I don’t know.”
Here is their list:
1. Making out with your boyfriend/girlfriend
2. Watching R-rated movies
3. Listening to non-Christian music
4. Drinking alcohol
5. Swearing
6. Getting a tattoo
7. Attending a Halloween party
8. Using social media
9. Bingeing on Netflix
10. Driving five mph over the speed limit
11. Skipping church on a Sunday to attend a sporting event
12. Sending your kids to public school
13. Betting on sporting events
14. Spending money on luxury items
15. Playing video games that contain violence
And these are very good examples. Some of you were probably ticking off in your minds what falls into the yes, no, and I don’t know categories.
Just this week, after the Genesis study, a couple of men and myself got into a conversation about music and movies and what Christians should or should not listen to or watch. So these are very relevant.
And the article lists these, and then refers to some passages of Scripture that help us not only make good decisions when it comes to these gray areas, but in determining how we decide what is gray, and what is black and white.
And the author concludes by saying:
God wants us to obey his commands in the black and white areas and to seek his wisdom in the gray areas.
Good advice.
But this whole thing got me thinking, and I came to a conclusion, and I want to share it with you all because I think it is true and important to realize.
Christians have a lot more gray area than the unsaved do. And that sounds so counter-intuitive at first, because we now know the truth of God, we can understand His Word and therefore His commands, and we now have the ability to obey His commands.
And that’s true.
But as I’ve said, the atheist does not have a category of “sin.” The unbeliever would answer that every single one of those 15 “gray areas” are not gray at all, and are all perfectly fine. They would say that a whole lot more is perfectly fine. When you have no ultimate standard, then everything is permissible as long as you feel it is.
But there’s more to it than that. Because it isn’t just that we have more gray area because there are so many - thousands - of decisions we need to make every week that God’s Word does not speak to directly, but there is another problem that is unique to only Christians.
We are new creatures, made new when we are regenerated by the Spirit, we are being formed into a purer image of God in Jesus Christ - but we are also still sinful. We are at the same time, saint and sinner. That means that we have a gray area that nobody else in the world does.
In fact, that makes us a gray area. Within ourselves, by nature of who we now are, we live every moment in a gray area.
Because while it is profitable to seek godly wisdom on whether I should do things like have a beer or bet on a football game, that is not the real gray area.
The real gray area is that I have the clear Word of God - and it doesn’t get any more black and white than that - I have the Spirit within me enabling me to want and to do according to the Word of God, and yet I have sin within me that still influences me.
We are complicated creatures. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, but that image has been marred because of sin. And until we are made perfect in glory, we will struggle in the gray area of being a Christian.
So while our spirit says “yes” to God, because of indwelling sin, very often our minds and hearts say “maybe” and sometimes they just say “no.”
Because, you see, when it comes to obeying God and living as we’re called, we only do that when our spirit, mind, and heart all say “yes.”
So this morning, as we are here together in God’s presence to worship Him and our spirits are all saying “yes God!” - what are our hearts and minds saying?
Let’s think about that as we continue today in our series on 2 Samuel, and we are considering an event that is a great example of the gray area followers of God live in. We are going to see minds and hearts affect how God’s people live out their faith.
Last week, we saw that Ish-bosheth the king of Israel has a falling out with Abner, the commander of his army and the real power behind the throne. Abner decides to throw his power over to David, and Ish-bosheth, as we saw, was too powerless and cowardly to stop him.
Abner comes to David and they agree to a course of action. And we ended with this:
2 Samuel 3:21 ESV
And Abner said to David, “I will arise and go and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
All’s well that ends well, I guess. Everything worked out, right?
Well, as we just heard in our passage this morning, it’s not quite that black and white. It usually isn’t.
You know, when I was a kid, we had great after school cartoons/half hour advertisements for all the toys we begged our parents to buy, and for boys, every single one of these shows was essentially about the battle between good and evil. There were clear-cut, black and white lines between the good guys and the bad guys who would fight it out, and the good guys would always win in the end.
We had G.I Joe vs. Cobra. Autobots vs. Decepticons. He-man vs. Skeletor. Good times.
And the good guys only ever did good. They were always noble and always did what was right even if it was at a great cost to themselves.
The bad guys, only ever did evil. They always lied. They always cheated. Even each other. They always wanted to cause harm for the sake of causing harm.
There was no way you could ever confuse the good guys with the bad guys. There was no doubt who was on which side. There was no gray area.
And then, as I grew up, that illusion of clear cut good and clear cut evil completely disappeared. I didn’t know anyone in real life who was good all the time. I didn’t know anyone - even the worst guy I knew - that was only ever evil.
Think about this: even Satan had a time that he wasn’t evil. God says to him:
Ezekiel 28:14–15 ESV
You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.
But even more convincing was that I knew I didn’t fall squarely on either side. Sure, there were times that I did what was right, even if I had to sacrifice, but then there were times that being selfish came so naturally that I just did what I wanted without a second thought.
And then, God saved me, and I realized my sin.
This is why we live so gray as Christians. We know better the real blacks and whites of life, and now that we know God, we see the black in ourselves that we always thought was white.
And now, knowing God, we are in God’s eyes white as snow, but the question is whether or not we live that out consistently.
And if we’re honest, in our struggle against sin, I think we have to admit that we spend more time in the gray area than we’d like to admit.
So we should not be surprised that even after it appears that all’s well and about to end well, that the struggle is far from over for David and Israel. Because he and Abner cut their deal, Abner leaves to go make it happen. David is about to become the king over all of Israel as God promised.
But then Joab comes.
Joab is one of the most intriguing characters in the Bible, to me. Because he is the very definition of living in the gray. Ernie Campusano and I have been debating Joab’s character for almost 20 years. Literally.
In our passage today, he comes back from a successful military campaign. But when he gets back to Hebron, Joab is told all about the deal that David and Abner made. And Joab ain’t happy, and he let’s David know it.
2 Samuel 3:24–25 ESV
Then Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.”
Joab doesn’t trust Abner. He tells David that Abner is pulling the wool over his eyes, and he came on a recon mission so he could attack Judah and have the upper hand in the war.
Now, David is Joab’s king. He has made a deal with Abner. And not just any deal. It is a deal that is going to bring about what God has already promised to David. David is going to be king of Israel.
And as we’ve seen, Joab was loyal to David because he was loyal to God. Joab knew God’s promise and chose to be on the right side of things.
But here we see, though his spirit says “yes” - he is on God’s side… his mind here says “no.” Not this way.
And then look at what happens.
2 Samuel 3:26–27 ESV
When Joab came out from David’s presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it. And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
Remember, Abner killed Asahel, Joab’s brother. So, is this just a revenge killing? Is it Joab’s heart that is leading him to disobey his king and to act contrary to God’s will? Is it his heart that’s saying “no?”
Well, first, understand, we are so far removed by time and distance from an ancient eastern society, that it’s difficult to understand how things really worked. Because we read this and we see that Abner died “for the blood of Asahel” and we think of revenge killings like we’re watching “Death Wish” or “John Wick.” You killed someone I love so now I’m going to kill you.
But that isn’t what’s going on. It is more complicated than that. In an honor/shame society like ancient Israel, the death of Asahel at the hands of an enemy isn’t about “my brother” to Joab. It’s about honor. It is about the honor of his family. It is about the honor of his clan.
In Joab’s mind, Abner deserves to die not because he killed Asahel, but because in doing so he brought shame on the family.
Even more, he brought shame on the entire tribe of Judah. On the entire nation of Judah. This is much bigger than we understand it. This has very little to do with Joab’s “feelings” for his brother.
This is about Asahel’s, David’s, Judah’s, and even God’s honor. That is what Joab cares about. That is where his heart is.
So here are the options before us. Joab kills Abner because he has either convinced himself that Abner can’t be trusted and he is doing what he believes is best for David and God’s people - that’s called a rationalization - or he is having an emotional reaction to the man that brought shame on his people, and he is acting out of that emotion.
Either he is doing what he thinks is right, or he is doing what he feels is right.
But what this passage doesn’t address, is whether or not what Joab did - regardless of what he thought - regardless of what he felt - this passage does not address whether or not what Joab did was right.
We don’t get a “Joab did what was right in the sight of the Lord” or a “and thus Joab sinned” in this passage.
It would be so much easier to understand what’s going on here if we got that commentary. It would turn this gray area into a black or white matter for us.
But, just because we don’t get that here, doesn’t mean this isn’t black and white from God’s point of view.
What do I mean? Well, what should Joab have done. Considering the whole counsel of God, what is the black-and-white right thing for Joab to do here?
In light of passages like:
Matthew 5:43–44 ESV
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
1 Peter 3:9 ESV
Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
Romans 12:17–19 ESV
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
And we can’t use the excuse that these are New Testament ideas. Clearly, Jesus wasn’t amending God’s revealed will in the Sermon on the Mount. And Paul is actually quoting Deuteronomy to make his point. Not to mention, “thou shalt not kill” was a command Joab knew.
In other words, Joab knew what was right in God’s eyes. Don’t forget, this isn’t an Amorite. This is his fellow Israelite. Abner is his brother. Joab knew this would not be God’s will.
But that’s the problem. The gray area for him - and often for us - is not “does God’s Word speak to this situation?” It’s a matter of Joab’s mind and heart. What he thinks, and what he feels.
This is the gray area we struggle with most.
You’ve heard me say many times that we tend to rationalize what we want. We can convince ourselves that sin is not sin, at least not for me in this particular situation because… and then fill in the blank with what you have convinced yourself makes this the exception. We have all done it.
That is when our mind struggles against our spirit. We know what God has said and when we read it in His Word or hear it preached, our Spirit says “yes, God.”
But when the rubber meets the road and we are faced with a choice, and we really want something, how often do our minds say “no, God” and then convince us that no means yes?
The gray of a rationalizing mind can be dangerous.
But what is even more dangerous, is our heart. What we feel.
Pastor Dave touched on this last week and did a masterful job. We not only let our feelings override our minds so very often, but we let our feelings take precedence over our spirits so very often.
Add to that, that we live in a society that tells us this is exactly the way it should be. Do what you feel.
We are told to follow our hearts. We are told that there it is never wrong to feel how we feel, no matter what it is we feel. And that’s convenient, because then if we just act on our feelings, we can never do anything wrong.
And I have news for you, that is exactly the message that the world communicates today. What you feel is never wrong, so what you do based on those feelings is never wrong.
My daughter and her counselor - you can’t tell her that her feelings are wrong (I won’t argue that, though I don’t agree) - but that’s not the issue. I told my daughter and counselor my daughter is absolutely free to feel whatever she feels, but she is responsible for how she acts on her feelings.---that’s the issue!
And in our world today - especially in the western world and especially in America - we have all bought into the idea that no feeling can be wrong and nothing we do based on our feelings can be wrong. And these things are untouchable. They are not up for discussion and if you try to discuss them - even if you feel you need to - you are wrong!
And this has seeped into God’s church. This is why so many of us in this country church hop our whole lives. We don’t usually leave one church for another because this one has wrong doctrine and that one teaches right doctrine. We leave because of feelings.
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people tell me they have visited a church but it “just didn’t feel right.” No discussion of whether or not it was Biblical. No mention of whether or not their ministries lined up with the Great Commission. I’ll know where I will go to church when it feels right.
Until it doesn’t.
And this is an acceptable way to walk through the Christian life for so many.
So often, our minds, and especially our feelings, dictate what we do as Christians, rather than our spirit.
I mean, let’s all be honest. What affects us more and for longer? A sermon on Sunday morning or a dead car battery on Monday morning?
Let’s take last week’s sermon. It was great. But does that sermon affect us more and for longer than if we woke up Monday morning, turned the key in our car, and got absolutely nothing?
For most, we might leave here on Sunday talking about how great the sermon was, and maybe we think about it a few more times throughout the day. Maybe on Monday morning we think about it, or mention it again throughout the week if we see someone from church.
But the dead battery. Many are ruined for the rest of the day. Most of us are getting in the car on Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, thinking about the dead battery because we’re afraid it will happen again - I mean, this is real life! And my life was very affected by this!
Then, that weekend, when for some reason Americans get together to talk about how horrible their weeks were and we even try to outdo each other to have had the worst week - we will get all worked up again telling the story of the great inconvenience and the price of car batteries.
The dead battery is still relevant to us a week later. It still affects us. It is still in our minds. The feelings still remain and get stirred up when we think or talk about it.
But usually, the sermon is long forgotten by then, remembered only when the pastor mentions it the following Sunday.
Why is that?
Because we, brothers and sisters - children of God - we have learned to be led by our feelings, not our spirits.
Like Joab. He knew very well what God would want in this situation. God made it clear in His Word. And even if Joab didn’t know the Law by heart and didn’t know that Deuteronomy passage Paul quotes, He knew very well the Shema:
Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ESV
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
He knew that his spirit, and his emotions - just like his body - these all belonged to God.
The same is true for us.
And we don’t need to memorize all the passages about loving our enemies or not taking vengeance. We don’t need to remember every command of God. We don’t need to know off the top of our heads all of the application Paul and Peter and John give us in their letters.
Let’s just remember what Jesus said was the greatest commandment:
Matthew 22:36–38 ESV
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
Our soul, our heart, our mind. These are all means of loving God first and foremost.
These all belong to God. They don’t belong to us. And we would all agree when it comes to our body. But what about our feelings?
This is why Jesus takes the command against adultery and explains that it includes the heart. It isn’t the act with our physical bodies alone that is sinful - it is our hearts that sin even looking lustfully at another person. In fact, that is where the sin starts. If we don’t have the heart sin, we won’t have the bodily sin.
If we don’t have the heart sin, we won’t start to work out our rationalization in our minds before we convince ourselves to commit the physical sin.
Our bodies follow our minds, and our minds follow our hearts.
Where does the spirit fit in?
That’s why we have so much gray area. We tuck the spirit in somewhere after our feelings. Maybe even after our minds. And sometimes even after our bodies.
But is that what God calls us to?
1 Corinthians 2:9–16 (ESV)
…as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Do you know what this means? We cannot think rightly until we have been made new by God through the Holy Spirit. Until our spirits are made alive, we think wrongly.
We are supposed to be led by the Holy Spirit. Then our wisdom will be spiritually discerned. In other words, we are to lead with our spirit and let our minds follow.
And not only that, but the Bible is clear, the heart - without Christ - is also unable to function properly. Without Christ, our hearts are deceitful and lead us astray. And even in Christ - because of indwelling sin - we have to let our spirit lead, and our hearts follow.
When we don’t - when we act on our heads and our hearts and leave the spirit out of it - that is when we struggle with sin. That is when we fall. That is when we do things we regret.
Like Joab. He was led with his heart. He wanted to kill Abner because of how he felt. And because of how he felt, he rationalized it in his head. Abner is the enemy and was only here to dupe us into letting our guard down, anyway.
Then he took the action. He sinned.
Let’s be honest. How often do we follow that pattern - heart sin, head sin, body sin.
Because what’s missing?
Then, as opposed to Joab, we have David in this story. Let’s look at how David feels. He finds out what Joab did and he says:
2 Samuel 3:29 ESV
May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father’s house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!”
What is David feeling here? Regret over what has happened. Anger towards Joab.
I mean, this seems pretty harsh. He is praying for disease on the house of Joab. He is wishing hunger. He is wishing defeat in battle.
This should seem odd to our ears considering Joab continues to be the commander of David's army after this. Why would he wish military defeat on the commander of his own army?
Well, this was a common curse formula in the ancient near east. Kind of like when we lose something to someone and we say “I hope you choke on it.” It isn’t meant to be literal.
Disease, hunger, defeat, and then the part about the spindle, which is an insult that wouldn’t be politically correct in our day. He is wishing for Joab’s house to always have effeminate men that are like women, and I’ll leave it there.
This is a curse that you would pronounce on a man that wronged you.
So yes, David feels hurt, he feels angry. He feels Abner and he were wronged.
But David does what’s right.
2 Samuel 3:31–35 ESV
Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier. They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. And the king lamented for Abner, saying, “Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands were not bound; your feet were not fettered; as one falls before the wicked you have fallen.” And all the people wept again over him. Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, “God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!”
David decides to mourn for a man that was previously his long-time enemy. He mourns over the sin of Joab. He mourns over the situation everyone now finds themselves in because of that sin.
David loves his enemy, and yet he hates the sin.
And most importantly, he doesn’t act on his feelings.
Instead, David turns to God.
2 Samuel 3:39 (ESV)
These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!”
David’s angry. You don’t pronounce that curse if you’re not. David was wronged in this whole transaction. Now he has to wait for the kingdom even longer.
But he leaves vengeance to the Lord. Just like he did with Saul. Just like we read about in so many of his Psalms.
David trusted God to judge justly, and rather than act on his feelings, he trusted God. He trusted Him to make things right, and he trusted God enough to act according to His Word.
David led with his spirit, and let his heart, mind, and body follow it.
And note what happens when God’s people do that:
2 Samuel 3:36–37 ESV
And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to put to death Abner the son of Ner.
When we let our spirit lead us, people will notice. Because most of the people around us don’t do that. Fallen man can’t do that. Not acting on our feelings is so outside the norm for the world that they won’t be able to help but notice.
They will see something - Someone - so different from anything this world has to offer.
They will see Christ.
God the Son, Who took on humanity. He became exactly what we are. And He felt, just like we do. He had strong feelings. He got angry like Joab and like like David and like us. But He put the Father’s will first.
And realize: He had a human mind. He learned like we do, He understood like we do, and even decided He didn’t want to do things, but He did them anyway because He put the Father’s will first, regardless even of His emotions.
Think about the Garden of Gethsemane. We are told our Savior was sorrowful. We are told that He was in agony as He prayed. That wasn’t physical agony. He was hurting emotionally.
And He dropped to His knees to prayed to the Father: “Father, if there is some other way to do this, please do it.”
His mind didn’t want to do it, His heart didn’t want to do it - yet He said:
Luke 22:42 (ESV)
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
And God’s will was done.
And Jesus suffered. He suffered physically. He was beaten. He was crucified.
He suffered emotionally. He was mocked. He was forsaken by all of His friends. He was denied by one of His closest friends.
Yet He wanted God’s will to be done above all things.
This is what we are called to.
Philippians 2:5–8 ESV
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
This is having the mind of Christ. This is letting your mind follow your spirit.
We are also to let our hearts follow our spirits.
Matthew 22:37 (ESV)
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
1 John 4:20–21 ESV
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Here, we see love in action, and it has nothing to do with how we feel. It has to do with obeying God.
This is letting our spirit take the lead.
And when we let our minds and hearts follow our spirit, we will be able to love how we are called, and we will be able to live how we are called.
And we will be able to live outside all that gray area our hearts and minds tend to lead us into.
So I am going to encourage you to do two things.
First, if you have something against someone in your heart, especially one of your fellow children of God, go to that person today and forgive them. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Don’t rationalize yourself out of loving them. Lead with your spirit.
Second, if you know of someone, especially one of your brothers or sisters in Christ, that has something against you, go to them and be reconciled. Regardless of how you feel about the situation. Regardless of what you think about the situation. Lead with your spirit.
This, brothers and sisters, is obeying the commandment of the One Who loved us so much that He prayed that prayer in the Garden, then got off His knees and went to the cross for us.
Regardless of how He felt, there was no gray area for our Lord. It was black and white.
And if we have been saved by God’s grace, it is for us, too.
And if you are here and you are not sure that your spirit has said yes to God and His grace, come see me right after service and let’s talk.
Today is the day for all of us to lead with our spirit - no matter what we think, no matter how we feel - and truly trust and obey the only One worthy of our trust and obedience.
Jesus Christ, Who paid the price so that we could!
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