Qrc Forgivness Series

He just kept right on smiling. It didn’t matter what they did or what they said he just kept right on smiling. They were American army officers and he was their Korean house boy, and for whatever reason they gave him a hard time about everything, he wasn’t fast enough, he wasn’t polite enough, he wasn’t good enough, but he just kept right on smiling. They had rented a house in Seoul and he was the servant, he cleaned, he cooked and he served and no matter how hard he tried he seemed to fail in their eyes. They ridiculed him and they humiliated him in front of their guests and he just kept on smiling. The more he smiled the more they seemed to be determined to break him and their humiliation of him got even worse if that was possible, but he just kept right on smiling.

One day a visitor came to the house, it was another American officer but he was cut from a different piece of cloth and he was horrified by the way his fellow officers were treating their house boy but he was also fascinated by the boys response, no anger, no tension, apparently no ill feelings and so after a while he got the boy aside to find out what his secret was. “Why is it that no matter what the men say you just smile back?” he asked. “What is you secret?” The boy didn’t hesitate at all before responding “My secret is that every day, just before I serve them their dinner, I spit in their soup.”

Not bad, but not forgiveness. There are people here today who just keep right on smiling. They have been hurt by someone, and yet they don’t appear to let it bother them. A true Christian, it would appear that they have the Lord’s Prayer down pat where it says Matthew 6:12 Forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.

At least that’s how they appear on the outside. But on the inside they are spitting in that person’s soup, every day. And my friends that is not forgiveness. It may make us feel better but it doesn’t bring healing.

This is week four of our QR Codes for your Life series. QRC’s are those little square bar codes that are popping up everywhere. You see them in newspapers, magazines, billboards, stores and restaurants. And if you have the right app on your smartphone, blackberry or iPhone you can scan the QRC and it will take you to a website that will give you more information about that product or service. We have a QRC on the back of our bulletin which takes you to the Cornerstone Website. And while you are there you can find out information about the church, what we believe, a little bit of our history, what services we offer, what’s coming up and a video archive of our past services. Pretty cool.

When we introduced our series we talked about how great it would be if as Christians we had QR Codes for those hard situations that pop up in our lives . Places that we can go in the bible that will give us the answers we need.

So two weeks ago we looked at what to do when we are tempted to do wrong, where we should look for that answer and our QRC directed us to 1 Corinthians 10:13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Last week we talked about failure, when we feel like we just can’t go on, that our feet have been kicked out from under us and we feel that we just can’t give anymore and we want to quit. And as a response to that we looked at Galatians 6:9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

But what happens when you’ve been betrayed or hurt. When someone you love turns against you, or someone you hardly knows says or does something that hurts you? As Christ followers what are we supposed to do when we have been abused or someone hurts our family? What do we do when we get cut off in traffic or the barista messes up our coffee order? Our QRC code this week takes us to the middle of the scripture that was read earlier. Colossians 3:13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.