God's judgment has never been a problem for me. In fact, it always seemed right. Lightening bolts on Sodom. Fire on Gomorrah. Good job, God. Egyptians swallowed in the Red Sea. They had it coming. Forty years of wandering to loosen the stiff necks of the Israelites? Would've done it myself. Ananias and Sapphire? You bet.
Discipline is easy for me to swallow. Logical to assimilate. Manageable and appropriate.
But God's grace? Anything but.
Examples? How much time do you have?
David the psalmist becomes David the voyeur, but by God's grace becomes David the psalmist again.
Peter denied Christ before he preached Christ.
Zacchaeus, the crook. The cleanest part of his life was the money he'd laundered. But Jesus still had time for him.
The thief on the cross: hellbent and hung-out-to-die one minute, heaven-bound and smiling the next.
Story after story. Prayer after prayer. Surprise after surprise.
If God can tolerate my mistakes, can't I tolerate the mistakes of others? If God can overlook my errors, can't I overlook the errors of others? If God allows me my foibles and failures to call him Father, shouldn't I extend the same grace to others?
God created us in his image. And God is love and forgiveness, so if you want to be more like God then you must learn to love and forgive others for their failures. This is not to say that what they do is right, its just that all people deserve another chance.
Jesus also taught us another similar message. He told us that when people treat us unfairly, we must treat them with love. We do this because love is the best way to get back at someone cruel. Love to an evil person is like pouring hot coals on their heads.
So next time someone says something bad to you, simply reply with this "God loves you, and so do I"
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