We know the basic rule, right? Jesus said, "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matt 6:14-15) Forgiveness would be our first order of business. Now, of course, that's not always easy. I mean, sure, we can forgive ... right up until the perpetrator repeats the perpetration. And now we're struggling with the same problem. Jesus said to forgive them "seventy times seven" times. That's not a numerical limit; it's a concept. Keep on forgiving. So we scrape off the scab of the old wound and begin our healing process anew. It's not always easy.
So is there something else that will help? I would argue there is.
You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor" and hate your enemy; but I say to you, Love your enemies; bless those cursing you, do well to those hating you; and pray for those abusing and persecuting you, so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven. Because He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust. (Matt 5:43-45)Did you catch that? "Pray for those abusing and persecuting you." Now that's an approach I rarely hear. Pray for them? Are you serious?? It's what Jesus prescribed. Pray for those who make you their enemy.
Can you imagine what that would look like? I would think that an effort to ask God for their best would change how we think and feel about them. I would think that forgiving them would be easier if we were urgently bringing their needs befor the Father. I would think that continuous prayer for those who are persecuting you would probably show on the outside as well. "What, aren't you mad at them?" I would think that this kind of behavior -- praying for those who abuse you -- would be the kind of good work that would glorify the Father (Matt 5:16). I would think that this would be a much better demonstration of love for your enemy than, say, beating them over the head, even if it's just verbally. I can see all sorts of possible benefits here. I wonder why we don't do that very often.
4 comments:
Because we're human and to too many of us (especially Christians) anger feels good. Too many people believe that anger is a justified response in just about any situation. Oddly, I only find one biblically justified example of anger, and that is turning the holy into the profane. But so many of us believe that any slight is worthy of anger. I say, look to Jesus. He, of all humanity, has the right of being angry for unjust treatment, and yet the only times He acted in anger was when His Father's holy house was made into a den of thieves.
I agree that almost all Christians can revel in what some call "righteous anger". It feels good, it gives us feelings of power and control. Unfortunately, as David pointed out, we aren't righteous enough to justify "righteous anger". We ourselves don't honor the sacred enough to protest when it's profaned.
I see way too many Christians for whom anger is like a drug. They continually have to ratchet up the anger because each new cause must be exponentially worse than the last. This leads to what seems like a competition to see who can be the most vocal and vitriolic at things, or this can be a club used to attack those who aren't angry enough.
Ultimately it simply comes down to one more expression of our pride and our desire to supplant God and be the bringer of His vengeance. I wonder how things would be different if all of us, were to follow the teaching of Jesus in this? I say this knowing that I'm very likely to find excuses not to.
I would say that, whether it is someone who feels good about "righteous anger" or someone who is addicted to it or someone that doesn't really like it much but encounters it in themselves from time to time, the idea of "Pray for those who abuse you" would be a difficult concept. In all cases. I know it's not the first response that comes to my mind when someone is being abusive.
Oh, I completely agree that "pray for those who abuse you" is sufficient for any of those. I suspect that those who feel good or are addicted to "righteous anger" are very unlikely to want to divest themselves of their role of avenging angel in order to humbly rely on God to redeem the situation. I also suspect that many of those folks don't find the notion that some things won't be redeemed, or that some wrongs won't be righted, on this side of heaven/hell to be unsatisfying.
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