“Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
Colossians 3:13 (ESV)
There are some days when I feel like I have just been ran over by a bus and someone I knew was driving it! As I pull myself off the ground and stare at the tire marks in the mirror; my humanness rises up. I want revenge, I want justice, and I want others to know how I have been victimized! However, if I stop and take a moment to talk to God, He gently reminds me how revenge or justice is not what Grace is all about. He fills my mind with realizations that I am no better than anyone else around me. I am full of sin. Even the angry vengeful heart in my reaction to being hurt was sinful. Who am I? I am a sinner, just like them, and God loves me so much that He sacrificed Himself so that I could be offered grace.
All God wants from us is to whole heartily love Him and in addition completely love one another as we would love ourselves (Matthew 22:38-39). Doing that means we must remember there was a moment in our lives when we were the bus driver and God forgave us. He is simply asking us do the same, it's that's simple. Stepping above our pride and offering forgiveness when others haven't earned it. It's a simple concept; it is just so hard to remember when you are damaged, when you are hurt, when you have been mistreated.
When I think of how I should react to situations like these, I am reminded of John 8:3-9. In this passage, the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery to Jesus and wanted her to be stoned as the Law commanded. Jesus response is exactly what grace is about. He said to the crowd of people holding the stones for the torturous execution, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus knew no one was better than the other. The women needed grace, not condemnation.
After reading what God tells threw His word I realize how he wants us to react when we are struggling, battered and bruised with tire marks all over our bodies. He wants us to love the bus driver. He wants me to offer grace, just as He has offered it to me.
- Heather
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