People want payback for wrongs that were committed against them. They also want payback for wrongs that weren't actually committed against them. They want someone punished for those wrongs committed by others. And it doesn't matter if the actual perpetrator gets punished. They just need someone to be punished.
The thinking is often, "You wronged someone important to me; therefore, you wronged me in the exact same way." Sometimes, it's not even a person they know. But they heard about the wrong committed and now they feel wronged. That often leads to people feeling the victim over false narratives. They base their victimhood on rumors and misinformation.
"I'm a victim because that person over there is a victim...or at least I heard that they were a victim." We've all heard about the phrase, "Guilty by association." Well, this is "Victim by association." And debts must be paid. Only then, will forgiveness and reconciliation supposedly come. Only then will things be made right. "I don't care who pays for it as long as someone does." It often seems people basically want one person to pay for the sins of another. That sounds familiar. Isn't that what Jesus did?
Practicing that flawed equation is a very dangerous place for people to find themselves. It's harmful. People are weaponizing reconciliation. They say they want things to be made right but in reality, they want nothing more than to hurt the person who wronged them or others. In the end, that desire only destroys a person.
And that's where a lot of us are right now. We're destroying ourselves from the inside as people, as a nation, and as the Church.
Wanting justice is not a bad thing. God desires justice as well. That's part of His character. He is a just God. Because of that, I think it's something that He put in us, a desire for justice. But like with many other things, we often pervert it and leave no place for Jesus. There's no place for grace and forgiveness.
We also seem to have become a people who are offended by everything. The concept of forbearance has been almost completely lost. We have no patience with others. Intentions no longer matter. Molehills have been made into mountains. Rare occurrences have been made to be thought of as the norm. "It doesn't matter what statistics say. If they don't agree with my feelings, they are not the truth." When our feelings define our reality, we are not actually living in reality.
When we base our reality on our feelings, it's easy to feel like a victim. Many want to blame everyone but themselves for the situations they are in. They don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. It's easier to blame others than deal with our own issues. Our feelings tell us it's everyone else's fault. Out of that comes hate and anger where we need grace and forgiveness. When we forgive ourselves, it's a lot easier to address our own short-comings.
Now, the victim thing isn't just all in our heads. There are real victims out there. People do terrible things to each other. Some have real reasons to be hurt. And there is nothing wrong with desiring justice for those wronged. Unfortunately, when everyone claims victimhood, it really does a disservice to actual victims.
Another thing that harms actual victims is when we try to out-victim each other to gain some strange form of status. It's unhealthy and has become popular in our culture. Our victimhood now defines us. It has become our identity. That only leads to anger, hate, and division. That kind of mentality is suffocating. It tends to lead to a lack of forgiveness. Because if we forgive, we lose what defines us. We lose our status, our identity, and our street cred.
As we define ourselves by the wrongs done to us, it seems like a good amount of people have lost any and all understanding of grace and forgiveness. It's not a surprise. Forgiveness comes with Jesus. So many of our cultural values came from His principles. But over the years, there have been certain people who have tried to erase that from our past, our present, and our future. It's happening across the nation. It's happening in our culture and that is influencing our churches.
The further we walk away from Jesus, the further we walk away from the concept of grace and forgiveness. That's not to say that if you don't follow Jesus, you can't forgive. But forgiveness isn't a natural impulse. Our natural impulse is to get back, to get even. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, though. Jesus taught us what forgiveness is all about. He brought the concept to the forefront. He set the example. He lived it out, and He died for it. But instead of finding our identity in Jesus, we find our identity by the wrongs done to us. We define ourselves by darkness, not by light.
Let's be real. If anyone has a right to play the victim card, it's Jesus. Here is a sinless guy who was tortured and violently murdered. He was strung up on a cross not for His own sins but for others. He died for our sins against God. But even as he was in immense pain and dying on the cross, He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
He was asking for forgiveness for those who were persecuting Him, those who were verbally assaulting Him, those who were killing Him...and also for us.
Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." And Jesus died for us so that we could be forgiven. We certainly don't deserve it. There's no way we could earn it. But that's grace...undeserved mercy and forgiveness.
So if we're asking for forgiveness from Jesus, shouldn't we be giving forgiveness to others? That forgiveness we're getting from Jesus should be spilling out of us and over-flowing with abundance over those who wrong us, and those we care about.
At least that's how it should be, right? Unfortunately, that's not always a reality. People within the Church today can struggle with that. But again, if Jesus forgave us, how can we not give forgiveness to others? Often, I think we don't realize the depth of our own sin. And sin is sin. My sin may look a little different than your sin but really, it's the same thing. It's rebellion against God.
Thankfully, no one is past redemption. Not the murderer. Not the adulterer. Not the terrorist. Not the drug dealer. Not the rapist. God desires reconciliation with all those people thru Jesus. That might be offensive to you but who are we to shake a fist at God and tell Him He is wrong?
Paul, an apostle of Christ, took part in the murder of Christians. God eventually used him to write almost half of the New Testament after repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Peter, one of Jesus' disciples, messed up so many times. That included denying that he even knew Jesus on multiple occasions. But God eventually used Peter to play one of the most important roles in the building of the early Church.
King David stole his loyal friend's wife, got her pregnant, and had the guy murdered to cover it up. Most of us know the story. He was checking her out as she was bathing on her roof. He liked what he saw and sent for her. They slept together.
And nobody really mentions this but it very well may not have been fully consensual. Back in the day, what the king wanted, the king got. You didn't tell him no. Kings and rulers back then had a habit of killing people who told them no, and sometimes their families too. This woman could have been scared for her and her husband's life. But unfortunately, David had the woman's husband killed anyway.
David, who the Bible calls a man after God's own heart, messed up. It was an epic moral failure. What he did was awful. And due to those actions, there were certainly consequences. But despite that, God didn't throw him away. He didn't cancel him as our culture loves to do. God still had a plan for his life. David, when eventually confronted, fessed up, repented and reconciled with God. And despite David's failure, God brought him back to a place where He could once again work thru David.
Sadly, some of us only want to continue tearing down. We have no desire to build people back up when they fall. "Just cancel them already. #RIPDavid #KingDavidisOverParty"
It reminds me of the story with the woman caught in adultery. The crowd drags her out into the street in front of Jesus. They are ready to stone her to death. Jesus tells the crowd that he who has no sin should be the one to throw the first stone. Slowly, the crowd drops their stones and starts to disperse realizing that none of them were sinless.
I think some in the church have forgotten that. We've forgotten the depravity of our own sin. We stand ready, stones in hand, waiting for the first person to fall. And you know what Jesus is waiting to do? He's waiting to pick that person up, tell them that they're forgiven, and to go and sin no more.
Folks, we've got to drop our stones. We've got to ask for forgiveness and then go and sin no more.
As a culture, I'd encourage us to connect back with Jesus and the grace and forgiveness that flows thru Him. We already have someone who paid the debt for all of the wrongs we've done.
You want a wrongdoer to pay for the wrongs done against you or someone you love? Introduce them to Jesus so He can pay their debt. Allow Jesus to help us let go of the anger and hate we hold so tightly to.
We've got to have grace and forgiveness to survive. Our nation and its churches will not last without those concepts being put into practice. The farther we get from those concepts, the more our culture will crumble until eventually, there will just be the ruins of a once great civilization. Over time, we will become more and more divided. Our cups will be filled with more and more grudges and hatred until that cup overflows and destroys all it touches.
It's truly by the grace and forgiveness of God that our nation has lasted this long. In America, we have so many differences and with differences comes friction, misunderstandings, wrongdoings, and a fear of what is different.
The same goes for our churches. They won't survive without grace and forgiveness. We must remember that churches are not made up of perfect people. They are hospitals for the sick, not necessarily the healthy. Don't be shocked when sick people show signs of being sick. And that goes for our doctors and nurses as well. Doctors and nurses sometimes get sick too. The people who make up the Church are very imperfect people. Each one of us has the ability to fall. And it's okay to desire justice at that point but that desire needs to be handled in a godly way.
Let go of any hate and anger towards our brothers and sisters. When someone gets cancer, you don't hate the person. You hate the cancer. Our battle is against sin, not the sinner. When a person falls, lets be there with truth, grace, and forgiveness. Let's be there to help them get back up. That's what God desires. That's God's heart.
Jesus desires to gather all people to Himself, no matter your past, your sin struggles, your race, your culture, or your country. Jesus is bigger than all of that. But all of those things can bring friction if we take our eyes off of Jesus. As Christians, we're supposed to reflect Jesus to those around us. So let's be a light to the rest of the world and show how great Jesus' grace and forgiveness can be.
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