February 29, 2016. They Don’t Deserve Forgiveness!
Occasionally I hear people in bitter anger, rail against the distasteful prospect of forgiving someone who’s done something extremely despicable. The world is full of vile people who do hateful, selfish, damaging things. They deserve punishment, not forgiveness. In anger we proclaim, “They don’t deserve forgiveness!”
Of course, they don’t deserve forgiveness. Nobody does. Forgiveness is all about extending mercy and grace to the undeserving. We’re all in the same boat here. You may think you’re better than that despicable person you don’t want to forgive, but in reality, you’ve sinned too and deserve punishment. Maybe you haven’t done anything as bad as what that person did, but does it matter? Maybe you are just as bad, but you can’t see your own sins clearly. Who gets to decide that you deserve forgiveness but someone else doesn’t?
There is a time for punishment. Leave that to the responsible authorities. God punishes sinners. The government punishes law breakers. Parents punish rebellious children. Schools punish students who break the rules. Etc. But we should never assume the position of judge, jury, and executioner and try to punish someone who’s not under our authority for their wrongdoing. We are not to judge or seek revenge or take justice into our own hands.
If you want God or the people you’ve injured to forgive you (and you should) while you withhold forgiveness from someone else, that makes you a hypocrite.
Forgiveness is an act of love. When you forgive people who don’t deserve forgiveness, you’re loving them. That’s what our creator desires of us—to love our neighbors, even our enemies. So forgive freely and you will be freely forgiven. (Matthew 6:14-15; 10:8; Luke 6:37-38)