We must not allow our human estimation of the severity of a sin dictate when it is, or is not, appropriate to respect the lines drawn by Jesus in Luke 6:27-31.
When is it “right” to stop forgiving and restoring?
When is it no longer required to wait upon the Lord, and cover a multitude of sins with perfect love?
At what time is it permissible to invite fear – even fear for the wellbeing of the vulnerable and innocent – to take the driver’s seat of our decisions as protectors?
How “bad” must a sin be before the blood of Jesus no longer speaks a better word?
How wounded must a believer become before they are no longer charged by the words of Jesus to bless those who curse, pray for those who abuse, and turn the other cheek and offer the extra cloak?
You were hurt worse than me… I was hurt worse than them… at what arbitrarily designated point of pain do we get to stop listening to the words of life and instead listen to the cries of the flesh for revenge NOW – ignoring God’s command to allow HIM to have the vengeance.
Do we understand what Rom. 12:19-20 looks like in reality?
Do we realize it means delaying repayment, and waiting for the Lord to take action?
Do we comprehend that this may look like allowing the oppressor to continue their behavior seemingly unhindered until the moment God says “enough”?
Do we trust that He knows the best way, and it’s not our way?
Is it all theoretical to us – this concept of compassionate attentiveness to even the slightest discomfort of our worst enemy?
Did it go right over our heads, the gritty truth that an enemy is made when a person chooses to mistreat us without remorse?
Have we seen too many movies, perhaps? The kind that wrap up suffering and injustice in a two-hour feel-good package of instantaneous payback and triumph for the protagonist (who we always imagine as, of course, ourselves).
Is it fading to grey, the once vivid picture of VICTORY and JUSTICE according to the Bible… Jesus bleeding out, nailed to a cross, spat on and mocked by the ones He came to love?
I ponder these thoughts with a heavy heart, and not as an aggressor with a reputation to lose… no, I was the victim, and all I had to lose was my very soul… is that enough?
I have been the one on the receiving end of the curses, the slander, the shocking betrayals, with grief seeping onto my pillow at night, yet not one of those things had the power to destroy me… because for those who love God ALL things work for good. And yet I was, yes I was ALMOST destroyed, every time I was used and abused and confused, by my own wounded heart and my weariness with love, by my own lust for murder and for payment of sins… it was ME that nearly killed me, for *I* am the one who is able to depart from the grace of the Lord.
It was HIM who came and found me, and bound me, and told me that life is only gained when my rights are laid down.
Praise be to Jesus, the Lamb slain for ME, who shows me the way to be utterly free.
Not through the punishment of sins of aggressors, but through the low road of the humblest of Saviors.
This world cannot hold me, I’m just passing through.
My hope is not set what any man can do.
My Jesus is coming and then we will see, that our fight against flesh was misguided at best: in Him we are one, His true family.
And if you don’t like it… just saying… there’s the door. You can leave…
Letters to the Bride 