You May Have Got Away With It Now But One Day.........

So yesterday I wrote a post on "Weeding Out Bitterness" and I had a good lesson on that today. Without going into more information than is necessary, some people got away with something they had done because they fell into a "gray" area. At first I was upset because of course what they had done was wrong. But then I had a thought, or rather several.

First thing that popped into my head is Romans 12:2, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord." Of course there is more behind that verse than just- God will take care of them- but it was nice to remember that God will be the one that makes things right in the end. Even though some people appear to get away with things now, one day all will have to answer for what they have done, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,..." (2 Corinthians 5:10a)

But then there was another thought. This thought kind of made me feel ashamed of myself for the thought I had just had. And there it was, "Why is it when someone else does wrong we automatically jump to demanding justice but when we fail we seek grace?" WHY did that thought have to come too!? But the more I pondered on it, it is absolutely true! Why is that? Unfortunately the Lord has revealed that answer to me too. You see for the last several days, EVERY and I mean EVERY, form of preaching I watch or read has been on self-righteousness. That is exactly what it is that has us demanding justice! We only want to remember the things we have done right and if we did indeed do wrong we try to blame it one someone else. Self-righteousness, such a nasty word!

Now don't get me wrong, if there are not laws or rules this world would be chaos but my point here is that we should remember there is balance to apply when dealing with others. This particular situation I encountered today was an illegal act that someone got away with, again- there are times and reasons that laws are in place. I am not saying that this criminal should have got off free and not had to answer for what they did. But what I am saying is, when the situation we encounter is one of a personal offense we need to remember the grace we have received from the Father. We too have made mistakes in life that we had to be forgiven for. And if we have not had to ask for forgiveness yet, trust me, the time is coming when we will! We do not need to allow our "self-righteousness" to overcome us so that we forget we too do/have done wrong!

I think that God was trying to get something through to me today. I could sit and worry or be upset and angry that "justice" was not served today or I can give it over to Him and let Him handle it. Truth is, He is going to handle things whether I give them to Him or not. But the point I took away is this, JUST GIVE THINGS OVER TO GOD- GOOD OR BAD!! Do not let my "self-righteous" attitude to make me blind to the fact that I have done wrong too. I have no right to demand judgment for an offense when I am an offender myself. So now instead of worrying about what happened today and allowing it to consume me or cause me to become bitter- I say, "You may have got away with it now but one day......"- GOD WILL HANDLE IT!! (Wink) How about you? Do you have a situation where you need to do the same???