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Forgiveness.
It's required of God: "Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." (Eph. 4:32 NLT)
Vengeance is God's prerogative, not ours: "Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, 'I will take revenge; I will pay them back,' says the LORD." (Romans 12:19 NLT)
We know that God will ultimate punish the wicked for what they do: "I, the LORD, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty." (Isaiah 13:11 NLT)
Why, then, is it so hard?
I don't know about you, but forgiving someone is perhaps the hardest thing I am ever asked to do. What they did is wrong, and I feel like if I forgive them, then they are not getting the punishment they deserve for their crime! I know God asks me to. I know God will ultimately punish them. But...
Not only is this a hard concept for me, but I know that many of you out there struggle with the same thing. Forgiving is one of the most common pieces of advice I give to people. As I was trying once again to present an argument for forgiveness to someone who has been deeply, perhaps irreparably, hurt by the one I am telling her to forgive, I stumbled across an interesting verse: "Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble. For the Lord will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them." (Proverbs 24:17-18 NLT)
Wait. What? If I am angry at someone -- who I must say deserves my anger -- God will be displeased with me? And not only that, but He will stop being angry at the one I'm angry at?
Wait. I want God to be angry at them, right? After all, it is God's right to punish, to avenge the wrong he/she did to me! Where's the fairness in that?
But this verse clearly states that God wants us to forgive so badly that He becomes displeased with us when we don't, to the point that He turns His displeasure away from them and on to us! So if we truly wish for God's judgment upon someone who has hurt us, then the way to achieve that is ... to forgive them!
A funny thing happens, however, when we forgive someone. Suddenly we aren't angry at them any more. I don't know how many times I've been so angry I could have bitten nails; but when I finally forgive, I am no longer angry, and I find myself saying to God, "Please forgive ____ for what he/she did!" It is only when we allow things to arrive at this point that God's justice is accessible.
Angry at someone? In order for God to avenge, you must forgive!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two adult boys, Author -- "Aboard God's Train -- A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer", Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, The Illustrator, a four-times-a-week internet newsletter, and the Sermon Illustrator website, all with Answers2Prayer Ministries.
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