Around the World in 88 Years -E Book - Arthur Burt
Around the World in 88 Years -E Book - Arthur Burt
Around the World in 88 Years -E Book - Arthur Burt
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He resists <strong>the</strong> proud…and He does not forgive unforgiveness.F<strong>in</strong>ally, I saw that God had mercy, grace, and forgiveness for mys<strong>in</strong> but not for my pride. The Bible doesn’t say that God resists<strong>the</strong> s<strong>in</strong>ner, but that “God resists <strong>the</strong> proud….” (1 Peter 5:5) Hehas made provision for <strong>the</strong> s<strong>in</strong>ner: “If we will confess our s<strong>in</strong>s, heis faithful and just to forgive us our s<strong>in</strong>s, and to cleanse us from allunrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) I knew that. I had proven that —<strong>the</strong> forgiveness of God for s<strong>in</strong>. Now I had proven <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r pr<strong>in</strong>ciple:God resists <strong>the</strong> proud. The remedy for that condition is to“Humble yourselves <strong>the</strong>refore under <strong>the</strong> mighty hand of God.”(1 Pet 5:6)I will leave this to <strong>the</strong> reader to decide. Observe your own lifeand <strong>the</strong> lives of o<strong>the</strong>rs. God completely forgets and wipes outsome s<strong>in</strong>s, but o<strong>the</strong>rs, He doesn’t. One s<strong>in</strong> He does not forgive isunforgiveness. It is po<strong>in</strong>tless to try to enter <strong>the</strong> presence of God,while hold<strong>in</strong>g hatred and bitterness <strong>in</strong> our hearts towards ourbro<strong>the</strong>r or sister. He will not receive us. And we will receive noth<strong>in</strong>gfrom Him because <strong>the</strong>re is no forgiveness for unforgiveness.Until you forgive, as Jesus said, nei<strong>the</strong>r will your heavenly Fa<strong>the</strong>rforgive you. “But if ye forgive not men <strong>the</strong>ir trespasses, nei<strong>the</strong>rwill your Fa<strong>the</strong>r forgive your trespasses.” (Matt 6:15) I had failed<strong>in</strong> this regard when a bro<strong>the</strong>r who I despised delivered <strong>the</strong> Wordof God to me.I don’t reject letters because <strong>the</strong> postman has mud on his trousers.Maybe he has been out <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> wea<strong>the</strong>r and is wet and muddy,not clean and tidy. Maybe he isn’t as smart as I would like him tobe. Maybe he has crawled through <strong>the</strong> fence and has torn hiscloth<strong>in</strong>g. We don’t reject <strong>the</strong> letters because he is a mess. Obviously,we make a dist<strong>in</strong>ction between <strong>the</strong> message and <strong>the</strong> messenger.In this case, though, I hadn’t.By <strong>the</strong> grace of God, I did br<strong>in</strong>g forth fruit unto repentance. In away, also by <strong>the</strong> grace of God, I made it up to <strong>the</strong> schoolgirl whohad a crush on me. On a bus trip to <strong>the</strong> seaside one day soonafterward, I <strong>in</strong>tentionally placed that girl beside a particular youngman. They have been married many years now and have grownsons — <strong>the</strong> happy end of this story.95