Dealing With Injustice
In our modern world, apologies are a rare commodity. People either can’t bring themselves to apologize, refuse to, or even worse – they believe they’re the ones who were wronged. The end result? Broken relationships, lost love, and a lifetime of unhappiness.
It’s tragic that so many people spend years, even their entire lives, clinging to the idea that they were right instead of prioritizing being right with others. The cost of this focus on our own rights can be immeasurably high, both emotionally and financially.
That’s because Satan deceives us to believe we are fighting over “who is right.” But the reality is that we are usually fighting about, “who is not wrong.” Our focus is way off.
For example, just think about your last argument – did it have any of these defensive words, “I never said…” or “I wouldn’t have…” or “I didn’t do…” In most arguments we are so busy defending ourselves or proclaiming our innocence as we yell, “I didn’t do anything wrong!”
But notice, with the focus of “WHO IS NOT WRONG,” our conversations rarely move toward a positive solution, where you and the person who offended you might both be partially right. Of course, this would involve higher thinking, and it is just easier to fume in offense.
Instead of listening to Satan scream how we’ve been wronged, the other voice we can listen to is the voice of our Father who loves us. It is a gentle voice that says, “I love you.” God’s voice also says, “I love the other person too.”
And here is the key: When we listen to our Father’s voice, suddenly we can have freedom to know that we don’t have to be right in any given situation, because we are right with God. Armed with this strength, we become free to focus on BEING IN RIGHT RELATIONSHIP instead of being so zeroed in on being right!
Knowing that God loves us may even allow us to say to the other person, “I want to understand your point of view” or “I value my relationship with you!” or “I’m sorry.” Can you imagine having the freedom and poise to be able to say that? This is practically like being a super-hero in today’s world!!
Today, we can choose to listen to Satan scream, “Know your rights,” or we can listen to God whisper, “I want you to be in right relationship with each other.” The funny thing is we get to choose. Perhaps it is a good idea to try to add up the costs of both choices – years being righteously offended or, hard as this might sound after you’ve been hurt, discovering God’s freedom in forgiveness.
