By Debra Franklin-Rothrock
Jeremiah 10:1-11:23 / Colossians 3:18-4:18 / Psalm 78:56-72 / Proverbs 24:28-29
When someone does something wrong to us, our first instinct is probably to pay them back for our hurt; a thousand ways to get even pop up in our minds. We want to retaliate; we want to hurt them more than they hurt us.
The problem is that hurting people hurt people, and before you know it; a cycle has begun. Small arguments become feuds. Three generations later we have the Hatfields versus the McCoys. It is easy to see how retaliation impacts our lives.
What about making judgments? How often do we assume that all of our (or maybe another person’s) problems are payback for a wayward life? This attitude can become a self-fulfilling prophecy…we get what we deserve, we develop a hopeless, stuck mindset, we repeat the offense, we kick ourselves one more time for receiving what we deserve.
We were born with a strong sense of justice. Have you ever noticed your children playing with other kids and suddenly heard, “That’s not fair!” It is an issue in life that seems to come naturally.
However, we are not born, with the gift of insight, as well. Being understanding does not come as innately as noticing injustice. Even as adults, what looks unfair on the surface may be a perfectly reasonable reaction for another person. Nonetheless, we want justice as we see it, when we see it.
Actually, God wants justice, too. He operates in it. Not only does He want justice for us, but He requires it. He is the ruler of the universe. He has designed it in an orderly manner so that nothing can continue working without a just balance. For every debit, there must be a credit. For the magnetic pole to spin properly around the sun, each inch of positive force must be counterbalanced with an equal number of negative. For each action of evil, payment must be equitably exacted.
However, we aren’t the ones, in our personal lives, to play God and mete out justice. We aren’t smart enough. We don’t have the insight. We lack patience and wisdom. We tend to see situations strictly from our own perspective.
And then there are the issues of mercy, grace, and forgiveness.
Sometimes we just mess up and we can’t pay our debt. We need some help. No matter how sorry I am that I broke your lamp (or ran over your dog, or hurt your heart.); somebody still has to pay. There are costs involved. The cost may be going without light, or maybe someone else paying the $47.95 that the lamp cost. But payment is part of the equation regardless of motives.
In today’s reading of Proverbs 24:29, we are told: “Don’t ever spitefully say, ‘I’ll get even with him! I’ll do to him what he did to me!’”[1] A bit earlier in Proverbs, the same idea is stated a bit differently: “Don’t ever say, ‘I’m going to get even with them if it’s the last thing I do!’ Wrap God’s grace around your heart and he will be the one to vindicate you.”[2]
And there we have the answer; God’s grace. Because He loved us so much, He sent His only son, so that if we believe in Him our debts are fully paid. On the cross. The cost of sin, my sin, your sin, and everyone else’s sin who has ever been on the earth, all of it was paid in full two thousand years ago.
That is the story of how grace and justice meet. We cannot be the judge. When slapped, we must turn our other cheek.[3] We cannot allow ourselves the indulgence of payback or retaliation. We are to accept His grace for ours and other’s transgressions.
Remember that God said, “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.”[4]
[1] The Passion Translation, (TPT)
[2] Proverbs 20:22, The Passion Translation, (TPT)
[3] Matthew 5:39
[4] Romans 12:19, The Passion Translation, (TPT)
