Les Miz...

So tonight my mom, dad, Lex and I went to go see our our friend in Les Miz. I personally love this musical and between that an the Phantom of the Opera could watch them repeatedly! As I watched it closely, I saw a few main takeaways that we all could bring into our every day lives. Grace, redemption, forgiveness, love... These are all things that we struggle with.

Grace, I once heard someone say, I was in a situation where I could have stopped the person from doing something wrong, but when does punishment need to come into the picture... Am I supposed to show them grace or help them "learn their lesson by paying the consequences".... First, I would like to make a side note that I am not saying I do not believe in consequences for actions because whether we like it or not, there are consequences even if we are not the ones to put them into action. But, as I heard this story, I thought about what I would have done and what could have taken place had I chosen each side of the coin... Then I saw Les Miz again tonight and there are two situations where grace is being given and changes the course of someone's life. The minister shows Jean Valjean grace when he steals from his home and in return says he hopes this will turn him into an honest man... Jean Valjean turns his life around and later shows grace to Javert even though he knows Javert will probably hunt him until he dies... In the Bible it says that God's love brings people to redemption... not his consequences or wrath... His love... Now, I am stepping back into the previous situation applying the concept of grace... If I were in the above situation and let the person get what they deserve, they may learn a lesson or they would get punished and possibly put in jail for a small crime and get a good lesson in criminology... Or what if I happened to show the person grace and walked up to them and said, I know what you are thinking about doing... and you can either steal from this store and in get in huge trouble or you can walk away right now... You have the choice... You are not stuck with your previous decision, you are free to change the course of your own life in this minute... The person may go ahead and steal, or they may not steal this time... but I bet you the love that I had shown to that person will stick with them the next time they are thinking about putting something into their jacket that is not theirs... and even if they steal every day for the rest of their lives... I know that it is not my duty to punish people and so why wouldn't I give them the benefit of the doubt and show grace in situations... Give people a chance, don't expect them to mess up, because if you do, if you may not see the little ways that they are succeeding each day! Oh, and if you think they will mess up... that is probably because we all know that we mess up, but that is how we learn and start new and help each other out...

Redemption... A few definitions of this word are... Deliverance upon payment of ransom; rescue... Recovery of something pawned or mortgaged... or the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil.... We have been redeemed... We have someone that loves us so fiercely that He payed the ransom for our sin and has rescued us from evil. We are redeemed right now... Not in 5 or 10 years when we have our stuff together... We have been redeemed and set free from our sin! We don't need to be perfect or look perfect... We can open up our hands and hearts and accept this wonderful give from someone who knows us and all of our secrets and is not ashamed of us or wishes we had done differently. We were made the way we are on purpose... God didn't accidently drop in some drops of a "mess" and call it ok.. He hand crafted each one of us beautifully and called us Good... The creator of the universe calls us Good... Now that is what I am talking about!! :)

Forgiveness... Now this one is a tough one on many levels... The problem that I had and sometimes still have is I like to tie forgiveness in a package with pride and those things don't exactly mix well... They are more like water and oil! For the most part I am a very forgiving person, but for some reason, every once in a while, when I am hurt in a certain way, I feel like I should be justified for not letting go of the other person's throat... That I need to be seen and heard and patted on the head for being hurt. When it comes down to it, I AM THE ONLY PERSON WHO IS MISERABLE!!! When I do not forgive someone, I am not doing myself a favor... The other person isn't being bothered or kept up at night, I am the one who is perturbed and always thinking of how I am the victim... I am not saying that in forgiving someone you need to trust them again... Sometimes it is not a safe person, but for my own sake I need to let their necks go because I am in pain and agony... Plus, once we can learn to forgive we can lead more peaceful and joyful lives because we do not feel the need to make sure someone is punished for their actions...

Lastly, I chose the theme of love... This is last but not least for sure... There was a line in one of the songs sung by Jean Valjean that says... "To love another is to see the face of God"... Sometimes we are so busy with our own lives and what we are doing right versus what others are doing wrong that we forget to love one another. What did Jesus do on Earth? He loved on people... not just an elite group of people... everyone... the whores, the beggars, the sinners the saints, and he even loved on the Pharisees... You may say, he didn't love on them... He punished them for being all about the Law... and if this is your thought, then you are only seeing through the Law... Jesus loved on them by showing them they are wrong... Showing them that there is freedom in relationship with Him and they are missing out on the party... He wanted them to see that it isn't about keeping all of the rules or being perfect... It is about taking your messy life and walking in relationship with Jesus and the people around you and helping each other grow... If we did more of this, loving on those around us where they are at without an agenda, we would impact the world in a much greater way. Everyone wants to go out there and win people for Christ, but they are tearing down those around them... I say for the most part we do not NEED to go anywhere... We need to start loving people in our own back yards and people will come to see the love of Jesus flowing out of us, and that love with flow into other's relationships and the face of God will permeate the world...

Alright, so that was a long one... but if anyone made it all the way to the end... Thanks and I love you all!! Have a great night!! :)