Opus 2013-309: Agape/Chesed: Tally Ho! Tally No!

I must constantly remind myself to resist the urge to make tally sheets.  Some people I see one time and what they do to me comes and goes.  Some people in my life rarely do anything that could be construed as an attack.  Some have occasional moments.  Then there are the people who seem to live to belittle and demean.  They are the kind of people that kick puppies for no reason them pick them up and love them.  At times I feel like one of those puppies.

How am I to respond.

I can tell you two ways I want to respond.  First, I want to lash back.  Sometimes my mouth gets going before the Holy Spirit reminds me of Whom I serve.  Often I just choke it down and brood on it.  The second thing I want to do is make a list.  I want to start a sheet of all the times that I have been unjustly stabbed.  Then, when the list is long enough or I have a sympathetic ear, I can document to everyone’s satisfaction how I have been wronged.

Unfortunately I am not allowed either option.  Let me share with you a verse from the Love Chapter:

(1 Corinthians 13:5 NAS77)  does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

I am quoting the NASB here because the KJV misses the point.  The word “account” is a CPA term.  It has to do with keeping books and making sure that they are balanced.  Notice that we are not allowed that option when it comes to wrongs heaped upon us.

God forgives us.  We are to forgive others.  That means to stop keeping lists.  That means to not throw in people’s faces all the times they nailed you. 

It hurts but that is agape/chesed love.

homo unius libri