Daily Archives: December 9, 2011
Have you ever had an experience that shook you to the core. I did a few years ago. At Nikon we have to turn in expense reports to get personal reimbursement and to get charges paid by the company to our corporate credit card. I turned in a expense report that had an error, it was an honest mistake, but it did look suspect. A person, who will remain un-named, in accounting, flagged the error and told my boss and his boss that he thought he had found a thief in our department. My boss assured him that he was welcome to investigate me to their hearts content and he was certain that an audit would find nothing dishonest in my dealings with the company. What proceeded was a deep and long forensic audit as they attempted to prove they were right, that in fact, I was dishonest. Three months later, and hour and hours of compiling and resubmitting reports, the final findings were announced, the company owed me $310. in un-submitted expenses that I had failed to turn in for myself. I was cleared of any wrong doing. I came within a hair of resigning. Nothing makes me madder than to be falsely accused of something! Especially something like this!
Let’s go to scripture for a little lesson on how we should respond to false accusations;
Isaiah 53 New Living Translation (NLT)
1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[a] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.[b]
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.[c]
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.
9 He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.
10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
I was very, very angry because I had been accused of something I did not do and would never do. I’m not perfect and I have made mistakes but I didn’t make this one! Jesus never did anything wrong, never, ever!!! And yet He died and took the blame for all the sins of all mankind, for all time!!! Read one copy of one newspaper and see the enormous number of sins in one city, in one state, in one week! Think of being blamed and paying for all the sins of all mankind forever, past, present, and future! In the scripture above it says, “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.”
Was I so gracious? Not on your life! I was wronged and demanded satisfaction. Jesus didn’t deserve any of what happened to him, but He did it willingly for you and I. Jesus did not even hate those that persecuted and crucified Him. Hanging on the cross He looked down at those that had driven the nails through His hands and feet and said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
I have so much to learn, Father.
There are two ways to look at things in life, through our eyes or His eyes. Just as Kent Irvin, (top image) and Jim Haverstock, (lower image) both saw the same lighthouse, but they saw it in different ways. If we are to follow in His footsteps we have to see the world and all that happens in it, in a different way than we see it as mere human beings. We must see the world as He sees it. Is that possible? No, not without the enduring power and wisdom of His Holy Spirit. We can rise above the circumstances of this life, but we can’t do it alone. Fortunately, on Christmas Day over two thousand years ago a baby was born, who would free us from all that would defeat us, including ourselves.
The man that called me a thief? For years I’ve felt the hurt and anger of that event, today I am letting it go, I forgive him. I can do no less, and serve my Master, Who taught me how to, “See things differently…..”
Get to know Him today, and be free at last……….
the pilgrim
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This entry was posted on Friday, December 9th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
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