You.

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Luke 23, verse 34 retaliation for harm done to us is a serious temptation for nearly all of us. When pushed, we want to push back. We want justice, and rightly so. However, we do not want to take the law into our own hands. Doing so is both wrong and pointless. What then, should we do? The biblical answer is to cry out to the Lord for mercy. We lift our eyes to the one enthroned in heaven, the one who judges the living and the dead. Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have endured much. Psalm 123, verse three in a broken world, there are many who abuse, misuse, insult and assault us. There are those who ridicule and even hate us for no other reason than our faith or our looks or our status among our peers, or our handicaps and limitations. Our plea is not merely for justice. We also want to be rescued from the abuse and hurt. We want to be compensated for the suffering we endure. And yes, we want the perpetrators of our misery to be punished and severely for it. But if we are going to be like Christ, our pleas must go past retaliation to forgiveness and a desire for the bullies in our lives to know the Lord and be spared eternal damnation, which, though we are tempted to say they deserve, we cannot truly wish for them. For to do so makes us as guilty as they are in their abuse of us. It has been said that to err as human, to forgive divine forgiveness is in fact the spirit of Christ, who even when nailed to the cross, looked down upon his accusers, abusers, tormentors and executioners and said, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they do. We are never so much like Christ as when our cry for forgiveness of those who bully us surpasses our plea for retaliation and justice.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to [email protected] have a great day, and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.