The Madness of Unforgiveness: Bless Those Who Curse You

by David Chadwick

Choosing not to forgive will only leave you captive.

Today, I want to talk about what it looks like to bless those who curse you. It is one of the clear commands Jesus gave to his followers in Luke 6:38.

Let’s be really honest with one another for a moment. Our flesh really does not enjoy blessing those who hurt us, does it? Especially when the pain comes with words that curse us and leave us in a swirl of despairing thoughts.

Human nature is bent toward retaliation. But the problem with retaliating is that if we strike back harder toward someone in revenge, they will inevitably strike back a bit harder toward us. Then we will want to retaliate even more. The conflict will continue to escalate with no end in sight.

As Gandhi once said, if you live with the mentality of “‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ eventually the entire world will be blind and toothless!”

How do we bless those who have cursed us? Let’s go back and look at Luke 6:38.

First, choose to bless people with your words. Refuse to slander them to another person. Slander is an attempt to use words to punish someone for the pain they caused you. Said another way, it’s a way of you seeking vengeance.

Secondly, pray for them. How do you pray? I think if they are truly wicked, pray for their salvation. We should not desire for anyone to go to hell. Pray for them to come to grips with their sin and to repent. The greatest blessing would be for them to encounter Jesus. Clearly their hearts are full of evil. Ask God to bless them with wisdom. With knowledge. With understanding. With the same conviction that made you realize you needed Jesus at one point.

Your prayer may look something like this: “Bless this person who hurt me, Lord. You know what he/she needs. I trust that you know best. I release him/her to you and will not carry any hate in my heart. Unforgiveness will destroy my heart and soul. I give this situation to you. You are God, I am not. Heal him/her. Set him/her free. Heal me. Set me free.”

This may feel so unnatural at first, but keep trying! You must rely on the Holy Spirit inside of you in order to accomplish this mandate of the Christian faith. A Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life is the only way to walk out these hard mandates. But you CAN do it! Step out in faith and try it. You may be surprised at the results!

The Madness of Unforgiveness: Forgiveness and Justice

by David Chadwick

Let’s continue to look at this topic of forgiveness. It is one of the main reasons Jesus came to the world. To forgive us from our sins.

One of the major questions I get when it comes to the topic of forgiveness is, “How do I forgive when I still want to see justice for the wrong I experienced?”

Take a look at Luke 18:1-8 for a moment.

Jesus tells us in Luke 18:1 that he is giving us this parable so that we won’t give up in prayer and so that we will continue to persevere in faith.

A poor widow with nothing was treated badly by someone. We don’t know the specifics about her situation, but we do know that she was treated in a terribly unjust way. She went to the home of an unjust judge who didn’t fear God nor man. She started banging on his door and repeatedly demanded justice. Because of her persistence, he finally gave in to her unrelenting cry for help.

This is quite the depiction of God’s heart for justice. We are not poor widows. Because of Jesus, we are now adopted sons and daughters of the King of the universe. Not to mention, God is not an unjust judge, but a loving father.

If the unjust judge gave justice to this poor widow in Luke 18, how much more will our loving father give justice to his children?

Next time you are unjustly treated, persevere in prayer to your Daddy in heaven and demand justice. Perhaps it’s just a quick reminder, like: “Father, I know you will deal with this one day.

I believe it in faith because justice is your character.”

From there, release the offense back to God, trusting he will make all things right in His time!

For when Jesus returns, will he find faith on earth? (verse 8). Will he find us believing that God is good and just and will right all wrongs? Even if we’ve not yet seen it? Remember, it may be heaven before we fully see God’s justice and understand all that happened to us. But justice will be done. That is God’s character.

So continue to ask God for justice regularly in prayer, believing in faith one day it will occur.

The Madness of Unforgiveness: Walking It Out

by David Chadwick

How do we forgive? What does it look like practically to walk this out?

We know that forgiveness is the act of releasing offenders and offenses back to God and receiving his compassion for the pain we experienced.

We also know that forgiveness is a requirement for followers of Jesus.

We know that our source of forgiveness is Jesus and without him, we can’t forgive.

We know that not forgiving can lead to bitterness and slander.

But how do we forgive? How do we become better at walking out forgiveness?

Always remember this one, great, biblical truth: God is perfect justice. No one gets away with anything. If someone has deeply hurt you, God will address it one day.

Because of this, we can confidently release and forgive knowing that God will one day have the last word for every tear we have cried, every pain we have experienced, every hurt that has come our way.

That’s the essence of Romans 12:19. We are not to return evil with evil, but evil with good. We don’t take vengeance in our own hands but leave it to the Lord who does vengeance much better than we do. He alone knows all the facts and he will deal with our pain and situation in a perfectly just way.

God is God. We are not. And as we continually remind ourselves of that truth, we are no longer overtaken by the desperation of vindication.

What if we try to enact justice ourselves? Then God will take his hands off and let us try to do it ourselves. We will quickly learn that it’s an impossible task.

If you want to keep exploring this truth, go to Deuteronomy 32:35, Hebrews 10:30, Psalm 94:1 and Leviticus 19:18.

This concept must be a very important one for us to understand or God wouldn’t have repeated it as many times as he did in his Word!