Ephesians 4:31-32
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
One of the hardest things to do is to forgive someone who has offended us. And let’s be honest, our natural tendency when we have been insulted or wounded in some way is to vent to others. If someone speaks unkindly about us or makes claims that are inaccurate at best – or downright untruthful – we rush to “set the record straight” with the general public… if not directly with the person who upset us. It usually doesn’t do any good… or make that person behave nicely… but at least for a while, we seem to feel better.
But how do we treat the person who has offended us afterward? What do we do when someone who has hurt us or shown us unkindness has a problem of his/her own – or a crisis? Do we sit back and laugh? Do we declare this to be “karma?” Or do we extend the love, grace and mercy of Jesus Christ… and offer a kind word or a helping hand? Are we gentle with these people? Do we forgive as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave us?
This is a terribly hard thing to do sometimes. When we have been insulted… our trust has been violated… someone has attempted to stain our reputation… or we have been treated with incredible disrespect…it is often difficult to feel generous and gentle - much less sensitive toward the person who did this. But nothing about obedience to God involves our feelings. It’s not about us. If we want to fully obey God… to wholeheartedly be His disciple and share the love of Jesus Christ with others, we have to be willing to love them without any strings attached.
I will be the first to tell you that I struggle with this. I am not good at “being the bigger person.” I want to rail to God and ask, “Why, LORD? What did I do to deserve this? How can I make this person understand the damage he/she did to me and/or my reputation? How can I ever be kind toward this person again?” And maybe you feel the same way. The answer is not necessarily one we want to hear… but it’s really quite simple. God says, “I already did this for you. Now…are you still unwilling to do this for someone else?”
©2013 Debbie Robus
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