No One Could Know

If you’ve ever blazed out in passionate anger– or “just vented” at someone, you may know the desperation that can follow–you’ll do anything to get back at the offender. “How could they do that to ME?” you think. The “After all I’ve done…” thoughts swarm your head and a litany of “I always” and “He never” arguments fall in a long line behind you.

What’s worse is when someone close to you doesn’t let up on their barrage against you.

Take Amos and Andy, for instance. In one episode of the old TV show,  Amos poked Andy in the chest every time he saw him. Andy put up with the irritation for awhile, but simmered under his collar. The more it happened, the angrier he got. Then he hit the boiling point.

With dynamite hidden under his coat, Andy shouted, “I’m going to fix him, alright! Next time Amos pokes me in the chest, this dynamite’s going to blow his hand off!” 

Unforgiveness has the same effect on us.

A Reader’s Digest article once revealed interesting results from a survey of American doctors. Nationwide, the medical professionals were asked why some patients died when the prognosis pointed to survival, yet other patients lived despite medical indications that pointed to a sure death. What was the underlying commonality? Bitterness vs. forgiveness. Those who got along with others had a tendency to bounce back in spite of any odds stacked against them.

We can glean much from the Word of God on the matter. Weymouth’s translation puts 1 Corinthians 13 this way: “Love…does not blaze out in passionate anger, nor brood over wrongs.” I like that description. We get the blazing out in passionate anger part, but maybe that’s just not your style. Maybe you’re a brooder? Brooding is when a bird sits on its eggs to incubate them for birth. They nurture them with great attention. Are we incubating the right things, or brooding over wrongs?

“Love is never tired of waiting,” the chapter goes on to say. “Love has no envy; Love has no high opinion of itself; Love takes no account of evil; Love does not behave unbecomingly, nor seek to aggrandize herself…”

Aggrandize means to brag, exaggerate, overstate, or embellish. 

In other words, love is confident in the simple truth. It doesn’t have to coat a healthy peanut with chocolate and candy, and spend millions on advertising to get people to eat it. Nope. It’s simply confident in who it is. It’s like the peanut that doesn’t have to put on a facade in order to be accepted. It doesn’t mind being called a goober pea. No siree. It’s happy enough knowing that one serving is such an impressive source of protein that it’s useful for weight loss and reducing cardiovascular disease.

Did you catch that? Good stuff is pure from the source, like real love. Love is also useful for weight loss and reducing cardiovascular disease! And, it doesn’t get sore-headed when it’s called names like Goober. When we walk in God’s kind of love toward others we’re healthier all around, in spite of the “Amoses” in our life. My hope is that you know God’s not blazing out in passionate anger against you, nor brooding over your wrongs.

He doesn’t sweep them under the rug of heaven, either. He has already swept them under the blood of Jesus Christ and you’re forgiven the moment you ask Him to forgive you. The anger–the penalty for the wrongdoing–was dealt with in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When you see how He loves you, it’s easier to love, and forgive, others–as well as forgiving yourself. No more strapping dynamite to your chest in retaliation. No more sugarcoating things. No more blazing out in anger. You can simply go out in a blaze of God’s glorious love. Take a fresh look at how He sees you by reading His love letter, the Bible. The Book of Ephesians is a great place to start.