Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Friday September 28, 2007

Over the course of your life you notice traits among different people. Some traits are common to some groups and totally different traits to others. I do not associate this with any racial connotation. A trait I will talk about today is common among winners and the failure to demonstrate this trait is common among losers.

Having observed this without codifying it, I was amazed while reading an article by the late oracle of Chicago, Sidney J. Harris. Mr. Harris just about knocked me over when he wrote:

"A winner rebukes and forgives; a loser is too timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive."

The terms "winner" or "loser" have nothing to do with the size of your bank account, but everything to do with what you really are on the inside. The boney fingered prophet of David and Bathsheba fame, Nathan is a winner. Far too many "modern" prophets are losers.

You may recall that David had committed sin with Urriah's wife, Bathsheba. Nathan came to David and told him a story about a man who had many sheep and who had stolen a sheep from a poor man. David went ballistic and ranted about what should be done to such a lout. At the pinnacle of David's tirade, Nathan, according to Baptist tradition pointed a boney finger in King David’s face and said,

"Thou art the man."

The rebuke by Nathan was used of God to bring repentance to David and most folks who read the Bible know of the accomplishments of David and how Bathsheba was later used to preserve the Kingdom. I have never read where Nathan carried a life long vendetta against David.

Nathan appears to be the embodiment of Sidney's formula for winners or losers.

I pray that the Lord gives me the courage when I see a brother or sister in the Lord, getting out of line, to face to face bring this to their attention with a well placed, "Thou art the person."

I pray with even more fervency that I will accept from the Lord Jesus the power and willingness to forgive. This is no easy thing, though it is commanded. Our particular movement is marked by gossip behind another's back, or secret revelations from "a concerned friend" are the order of the day and then some spend entire lifetimes refusing to forgive in the biblical sense with the transgression buried in the Sea of God's Forgetfulness.

I do know the Holy Spirit is Courageous in rebuke and BIG on forgiveness.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit.

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