Ephesians 4:17, 32 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Putting these two verses together brings some things into sharp focus. Actually, all the intervening verses also refer to the empty way of life of those without God, but there’s so much in between that by the time we get to verse 32, we’ve forgotten that Paul’s still on the same subject. Failing to be kind to one another, failing to remember how God has forgiven us in Christ and therefore forgiving one another, is a life of futility! As I touch on with some frequency, Japanese society has a lot of trouble with forgiveness, but the Japanese aren’t alone in that. It is human nature to seek revenge, to nurse grudges, and we are very slow to realize that those we hurt most by such attitudes are ourselves. In every detail, life in Christ, lived out according to Biblical principles, is the most satisfying, the most rewarding life possible. Several years ago a book titled Looking Out for #1 was on the NY Times bestseller list. I never read the book, but the title certainly exemplifies the empty life Paul is talking about! Self-centered people never have the emotionally rich, deeply satisfying life that God intends for us all. Some of them realize it while they are still alive, but all of them are confronted with it at the judgment seat of God!

I have had to deal with this in myself, as everyone does, but I haven’t had any cultural barriers to the very idea of forgiveness, such as what the Japanese have to deal with. I have been shocked more than once to hear Japanese Christians agree that the Bible says something, and then say, “But that’s not the Japanese way,” as though that excused their not following the Biblical pattern. I am not to be a “cultural imperialist” about American culture, but I must keep expressing and insisting on Biblical culture. Frankly, there are elements of American culture that really stink. (Being raised in a cross-cultural environment makes such things easier to see.) Just as Paul had to insist on a Biblical standard in the face of the various cultures he dealt with, I need to be so steeped in the Word, so open to the Holy Spirit, that I will be able successfully to represent Christ whatever the context.

Father, once again You’ve taken me in a direction I didn’t expect when I started writing. Thank You for being wise, though I’m not. Thank You for the Bible, even with all the assorted difficulties of translation, and thank You especially for Your Holy Spirit to speak Your Word to us through the printed words. I ask for an ever increasing anointing to communicate Your Truth so that people may be set free indeed from all the traps of the enemy, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!