Two Sides to the Story
You know the phrase "walking a mile in someone else's shoes", right? Meaning we don't know what another person lives through daily. We don't know what they see, think, feel, believe from their point of view. If you've ever listened to witness accounts, two people could witness the same incident and note different things.
We all walk completely different paths from the other. No two people are alike, and no two paths are alike either.
In the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies, Peter Parker spent years of his life believing his uncle was killed in cold blood, and the man who did it was vile, unfeeling, and deserving of a similar fate as his uncle. Peter met wrong with wrong.
Little did he know that the truth was far more complicated than that. Check out this clip from Spider-Man 3.
Our perspective is limited until we are allowed glimpses into the lives of others.
For all you know, the person who cut you off in traffic was anxious about something at work and didn't mean to cut you off. Maybe the person who got your coffee order wrong is worried about some bad news they got from the night before. Maybe the rude customer is at their wits end and frustrated.
Yeah okay, it could also be possible they were just being a jerk.
But still. You don't know.
God calls us to extend grace to others and to love them as He does because He showed us grace first and loved us first. As He said, the world will know we belong to Him by how we love, by how we extend grace, by how we show mercy, by how we forgive.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. - Ephesians 4:32
This does not mean we are to be trampled upon like walking carpets. We can stand up for what is right and what is true when the time comes. It means we are not to hold grudges, to respond wrong for wrong, and not forgive. Because God will take care of us on that front.
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. - Colossians 3:13 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is Mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. - Romans 12:19
God forgave us of everything. The wages of sin [any singular sin] is death, but for those who have been saved by Jesus, every single sin past, present, and future has been forgiven. And since we have been given so much, we in turn should be quick to give the same.
Today, walk out in the world knowing that every single person you encounter is one who needs to see the love of Jesus in you, who could benefit from seeing some divine, underserved grace, who could use some forgiveness. Remember that you don't know what kind of life the other person lives, and you showing God's love to them may change the course of their day if not their lives.
But those forgiving much should be quicker to give it And God forgave me for it all, Jesus bled forgiveness So when the stones fly and they aimed at you Just say "forgive them Father, they know not what they do" - Lecrae/TobyMac "Forgiveness"
