Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs

Post date: Aug 31, 2017 6:48:42 PM

“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:13-14, NLT).

Unfulfilled promises, broken confidences, betrayals, cutting remarks, wounds of the heart, mind and body...we humans are adept at hurting one another. In one way or another we’ve all suffered hurt inflicted by others.

For many of us, our response is to cry out to God for justice. Whether it’s in our own lives or on behalf of another, we want Him to right all the wrongs, remove all the pain and to do so now.

And often, we have a few ideas on exactly how He can avenge things!

We claim that we’re simply looking for justice. You know, ensuring people get what they deserve.

But all too often we forget that not only have we suffered offenses from others, we have often been the offender.

And suddenly our perspective changes. We no longer want justice. We want mercy! We cry out to God, recognizing our own guilt, but pleading that He doesn’t give us what we deserve.

Psalm 32:1 beautifully captures God’s mercy toward us, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!” (NLT).

I feel utter gratitude and joy knowing God has not only forgiven me, but He has put my sin completely out of sight! He isn’t holding it against me any longer. And it is liberating!

So, having experienced the freedom of God’s mercy and grace, why would I try to hold captive one who has offended me? The reality is that when I do so, I’m not holding them captive as much as I am holding myself captive to bitterness.

Someone once said, “Unforgiveness is choosing to stay trapped in a jail cell of bitterness, serving time for someone else's crime.”

Offenses, unless they are relinquished, never leave our souls. Bitterness takes root in our hearts and minds. Because when we’ve been hurt, we want someone to pay for it. We want them to suffer as much as (if not more than) we have suffered.

We, who long for forgiveness, are not always quick to forgive. We lose perspective and we no longer see others (or ourselves) through the lens of the Gospel. We focus too much on ourselves as the offendee. We tend to filter out the good and magnify the bad in those who offend us and our vision is skewed.

It’s all about perspective. The ability to see ourselves as others see us, as God sees us, is a divine gift. As we consider what it means to love without keeping record of wrongs, we need to look deep within our own hearts and in humility acknowledge all that Christ Jesus suffered on our behalf – covering both the offenses we have endured and the offenses we have incurred.

God, in His great mercy, took justice to a whole new level. He took the punishment that each and every one of us deserves and instead of inflicting it upon us, God placed it on His Son, Jesus. Justice was served, but through mercy and grace lavishly poured out on us.

Over and over again, Scripture calls us to respond to this incredible gift of mercy and grace. One of the ways we are called is to forgive others “just as God through Christ has forgiven us” (Ephesians 4:32).

I’ve been pondering, “What does God’s forgiveness through Christ look like?” And while not conclusive, my list contains some humbling ramifications for my life:

“He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12).

“And I will forgive the wickedness and I will never again remember their sins” (Hebrew 8:12). This doesn’t mean He forgets them. The Greek word for “remember”, here means “to be recalled or to return to one’s mind, to remind oneself of, to remember.” In other words, Christ doesn’t dwell on our sin. “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again” (Isaiah 43:25, NLT). He doesn’t turn each offense over and over in His mind. He forgives and releases the offense and the offender.

He calls us to forgive again and again, “even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive” (Luke 17:3-5).

If we want God’s forgiveness, we are to forgive others. “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). “But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too” (Mark 11:25).

And He instructs us to pray, “and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” (Matthew 6:12).

How are we to love and keep no record of wrongs if the damage can’t be undone? What if justice isn’t possible this side of heaven? What then?

In his message entitled, “When You’ve Been Wronged,” Pastor Erwin Lutzer referred to the maintaining of an offense as an idol of the heart. An “idol of heart” is something that means more to us than fellowship with God. A person who maintains an offense succumbs to idolatry. In other words, those who “keep record of wrongs” have a heart attitude that says, “Until God deals with this injustice that has been done against me, I am going to hang on to this offense, because holding on to this offense means more to me than God. As far as God is concerned, my relationship with Him is negotiable - it can be put on hold until He deals with this, because this offense and the justice that I believe is due me needs to be settled first.” We’re actually holding onto an offense without being willing to give it up as if it were an idol. Lutzer believes that many Christians don’t make progress in their spiritual growth simply because they’re hanging on to some offense.

You see, it’s not so much about what others have done to us. It’s more about the condition of our own hearts. I don’t know about you, but I want to be one who walks in obedience and love—forgiving others as Christ has forgiven me, keeping no record of wrongs—and sharing with others the freedom I have in His mercy and grace.