False Conception

I am a Christian 

There is a false conception, a standard applied to professing Christians, that turning the other cheek requires us, the professors, to take a beating. Not so, not so. 

There is an abundance of room for forgiveness. Forgiveness is spacious, awe inspiriting, love embracing, and soulful. Forgiveness is especially edifying following requests of the like, that sound something like this: I have done you wrong. I am so sorry for causing you pain, for being a source of your suffering. I ask that you forgive me. 

As a Christian, there is nothing I appreciate more than sincere apologies, except for sincere forgiveness! I love to forgive! It is one of my all time favourite experiences. Misunderstandings are marvellous opportunities for heart to heart exchanges that can lead to clarifying conversations, and confirmation too, that love remains, when two are willing to own the role they played in the misalignment. This having been said, it is quite a drastically different story, when someone purposefully, and repeatedly offends, maligns, and injures another, and expects to be treated as a loved and trusted person. 

I have apologized many a time over the years. There are some people I have thought about tracking down and asking for forgiveness. The idea makes me happy, but last names escape my memory, making it difficult to accomplish this duty. How about you, dear reader, are there people you would like to reconnect with so that you can speak these words: I am sorry; please forgive me?

God forgives, yes indeed he does, and so should you and I. The trouble starts with the person that refuses to own their badness, refuses to confess their sinful words and activities, and refuses to acknowledge the pain and suffering they cause when they cling to their ways, at the cost of relationship. God doesn't tolerate nonsense, and neither do professing Christians - a repeat offender that does not feel the sting of regret, ought to be put in jail, or, in the case of those that are petty thought criminals that we sometimes have to suffer, put in a timeout, away from the general population, cuz they just cannot be trusted. 

Distrust destroys relationship, now that there is a fact. Christians are entitled to choose their company, and bad company, according to scripture, does this: 

1 Corinthians 

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 

Psalm 1:1-4

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

God forbid we do not forgive the repentant: that would be ungodly. The question is, Do I/Do you, forgive someone that isn't sorry, that does what they do, regardless of the impact their doings have on others? My answer, is yes, I forgive them, even if they aren't sorry, even if they never speak the words, Please forgive me, but dear reader, it does not mean I white wash the situation, and pretend all is good between us; it means I acknowledge how things have been, how they are, and how they will most likely continue, if this person refuses to see the harm they cause, and if they continue to be unwilling to humble themselves, ask God for strength to change their ways, and seek forgiveness. 

I know that if a person prefers their pet sin in favour of relationship, then their pride prevents them from being meek before God and their fellow man. Pride is a preservative for the boastful, it shields them from ever admitting wrongdoing, and sets their heart in an encasement of concrete. If they will not bow down before the living God, what makes you and I think that they will be meek and mild enough to try to make amends with us, by admitting guilt? 

Not a chance, I tell you. 

Christian. you don't have to take a beating from abusive people that show no signs of conscience. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world, and, he will judge the quick and the dead, and separate out, the repentant and saved, from the reprobates and self-obsessed. He knows who is sorry and who is not, and so do you and I. Sorry people stop saying and doing terrible things : the proud in our midst continue to embrace their pet sins, and are none the wiser all the days of their lives. 

My last note while we are together. You know you encounter a difficult sin soaked person if in your mind you start to hate them, have terrible thoughts about them, mutter and complain about them throughout the day. This type of person temps us to sin and be similar to them, and this is the challenge faced: to remain holy no matter the people we deal with, and regardless of the circumstances. 

Jesus did not repay evil with evil, and we must ask for his strength, to bless those that curse us, and continue to pray for their salvation and redemption, through Christ our LORD.