What happens when we lose track of wrongs?
Jesus calls us to a love that forgives and heals. A love that does not record wrongs done to us.
The kind of love that takes no record of wrongs requires deep trust. We must trust that love is the right thing. That our version of justice is not what saves the world. It is so hard to let go of the record of wrongs in our minds, because if we don’t keep track, who will? We have forgotten that our records are useless. We have forgotten that God, who is love, keeps a perfect record and ours are like ugly kindergarten scribbles—and not the kind you put on the fridge.
I am challenging myself to offer this kind of love when I am wronged or see wrong enacted on someone else. It’s terrifying. Will I be able to respond in loving ways to hate? Will I be able to tell someone they’ve hurt me, while still loving and not clinging to the hurt? When my daughter grows up and experiences hurt at the hands of her classmates or friends, will I be able to address the issue without losing my grip on love? Or rather, my place in the current of God’s true love?*
Only by God’s grace. My resolve is deepened when I read Paul’s words on love:
“…If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” I Cor. 13: 2b-3
My confession of faith, my good deeds, my time spent serving the church—all worth nothing if I have not true love. Because I want to experience eternal life, I will risk going about it wrong. I will risk losing my rights, and even the rights of others. Because love is worth more than rights, comfort, and a good name. It’s worth everything. Jesus proved it.
How has this kind of forgetful love been offered to you? How have you responded to hate while still showing love?(Or wished you had, like me?)
*Many of these thoughts came to my while reading and pondering The Way of Love, by Ted Dekker.
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