When you are wronged by someone after you had wronged them, is that justice or two wrongs not making a right? God forgives and Christ instructed his disciples to forgive not 7 times, but rather 70 x 7 times (which is symbolic of an infinity number of times … because truthfully, when has anyone besides God Himself ever forgiven someone 490 times.). We have a hard time forgiving when we feel we have been wronged. Our hurt burns inside us and we allow anger to rule the day. We do everything in our power to protect ourselves, even at the expense of covering up our own faults and failings. We put on an air of superiority, while carrying a multicolored banner stating the offense and the offender by name. Instead of looking inside and finding the forgiveness that Christ had freely given us, we cling to retribution, as if it were something we had the authority to dole out. We could take a piece of the forgiveness Christ so liberally gave out and administer it as a balm to the offender, and thus help restoration take place, but we would rather wallow in self-pity, exclaiming to the heavens how severely we had been wronged.
Humanness is a frail quality at best. Not something to boast about, but rather a thing we should try to repair. I have been the offender and the offended more times than I care to remember. If it were not for the loving, infinite patience and love of God only He knows where I would be and my end would probably not have been very pretty. God knows what He is doing. Why don’t we trust in Him more? God has never failed us. Why don’t we rely on Him more? We want so badly to take justice into our own hands, as if meeting out punishment would sooth our souls. Revenge is never sweet. No matter who says it is, it is not. Revenge only stokes the fires so that next time, and there is always a next time, revenge will come quicker and with less provocation.
We need to leave the past in the past. History cannot be changed. We do not live in a never ending episode of “The Time Tunnel”*. We do not have the ability to turn back the clock or right a wrong done. If we are the offender, we can seek forgiveness and hope for leniency from the offended party. But in the end, the offended party holds all the cards. How will they play them? God needs to be consulted, but often is not. The pain and angst felt by the offended overshadows reason and compassion. And the offender oftentimes does not deserve forgiveness. Not one bit. But neither did us. We must seek God and His wisdom so that restoration may begin.
I have been the offender and the offended throughout my life. Life isn’t fair. It just isn’t when you are dealing with so many different personages. Everyone doesn’t think like you do. We are all unique by design. God wants us to become more like Him each and every day. The devil is bombarding us constantly with temptations and whittling away at our mercy. We must have retribution. We must have our wrongs made right. Says who? God knows all about it and He will make all our wrongs right in His time.
There have been times in my life, now is one of them, when I don’t happen to think of myself as a very good man. I think, say and do some of the most careless and hurtful things. They cause me to step back from myself and say “why Rich, why”. I am painfully human. I say that not in any way as an excuse, but rather as an explanation. God forgave me before I ever asked Him. Others I have hurt deeply may never. I regret some things in my life and will never forget the pain I have caused. God’s forgiveness will have to be good enough for now. It is time to move on … try to step away from the past.
Do you feel this way too? Do you feel that somehow you could never recover from the pain you have either caused in others or had inflicted on you? Over time it will pass. Oh there will always be a scar. We all have our fair share of scars. But we must learn from each experience and do better next time.
Father God, You know our hearts. Forgive us our iniquities and place a salve on the hearts of those we have hurt. Heal our hearts as well, Lord, for even offenders feel pain. Use us all once again for Your glory. Teach us from our mistakes and keep reoccurrences far from us. We ask and agree in the name of Jesus … amen.
WALK WITH THE KING TODAY AND BE A BLESSING!!
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