One of my (Many) Problems

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. -Romans 12:19

I have a problem. I have a problem with people who commit crimes and don’t get the sentence I think they should get. I have a problem with people who commit heinous crimes and then right before they die they give their life to Jesus and get saved. I know I should be happy for them and for God that someone chose to follow Jesus. But I am not. I think sometimes that they should spend an eternity in hell. This is a big problem with me. 

First it is a big problem because as it says in the bible passage above to let the vengeance be Gods plan. It is a big problem because I am commanded to love. A friend of mine has always said, “hate the sin, but love the sinner.” I can do that with my friends but I struggle with doing that for the people I despise. 

My other big problem is that I pick sins that are just above mine and make that the standard for all of mankind. I see all sin that is “worse” than mine the real issue instead of having the mindset that my sin is horrible too, in God’s eyes and I am not worthy either of God’s grace and mercy.

I am often reminded of “The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard” in Matthew 20 where Jesus paints the image of people who agreed to work in the field for a certain wage and when people came late in the day and got the same wage for less work, they had a problem with it, and what resonates with me is the second to last line, where Jesus ask the question, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” Wow that line hits like a ton of bricks. He is generous to me, to you to everybody, I need to remember that. 

I think of the saying about grace and mercy, “Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve and Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve” I need to remember God is full of Grace and Mercy and I need to be thankful for both.

Lord thank you for Grace and Mercy. Thank you for teaching me daily to let you handle other people and for me to love them despite what they do. Lord thank you for loving me when I don’t follow your word. Thank you Lord for helping me be humble when I mess up and allowing you to making teachable moments for others around me (especially my Daughters) when I do fall short. In Jesus name, Amen.