“When my mind is fixed on the gospel, I have ample stimulation to show God’s love to other people. For I am always willing to show love to others when I am freshly mindful of the love that God has shown me. Also, the gospel gives me the wherewithal to give forgiving grace to those who have wronged me, for it reminds me daily of the forgiving grace that God is showing me. Doing good and showing love to those who have wronged me is always the opposite of what my sinful flesh wants me to do. Nonetheless, when I remind myself of my sins against God and of His forgiveness and generous grace toward me, I give the gospel an opportunity to reshape my perspective and to put me in a frame of mind wherein I actually desire to give this same grace to those who have wronged me.”
- Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians (2008), 24-25.
(HT: OFI)
2 comments:
One of my favorite books!
This post, about doing good in love to those who have wronged us, reminds me of an event in the life of Corrie Ten Boom.
Once, when Corrie was speaking at a church, in the audience, she recognized a man who had been a guard in the Nazi concentration camp where she was imprisoned. After she finished speaking, the man approached her, thanked her for her message, smiled and bowed to her, and told her that Jesus had washed away his sin. He reached out his hand to shake hers, and she found herself unwilling and unable, in her own strength, to
reciprocate.
Very understandably, Corrie was angry and hurt at the thought of shaking the former Nazi guard's hand. However, knowing now that they were both forgiven, redeemed sinners before the Cross, she prayed for the love and the grace-empowered ability to do so.
God gave Corrie the love for this man, and she shook his hand. God always will give us the love, if we ask Him sincerely and submit to Him. The love may not show itself in overpowering feelings, but in the Gospel, God shows us more than enough love for us to be able to forgive those who have wronged us and do good in love to them. (Applications of this principle may vary, depending on whether or not the wrongdoer has repented.)
I have to remember this event in Corrie's life myself, for the much, much lesser ways that I have been wronged in my life. Also, ultimately, no wrong that anyone has ever, or *will* ever, commit against me begins to compare to my sins against God, which helped to send Christ to the Cross. God, the holy, infinite One against whom I have sinned, has forgiven and loved me. How, then, can I *not* do the same for others, who have sinned against me, a sinful, finite being myself?
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