"If you only knew who he really was then you wouldn't be giving him all this praise," I thought to myself yesterday.
I was reading the tweets I'd missed over the last few hours and noticed a tweep was giving praise to someone that I've had personal interaction with over the last year or so. I would be safe in saying that the person being praised acted in a manner that was not Biblically motivated and contained a worldly focus in dealing with us. God took the situation and used it to bless our family afterward but it doesn't mean the actions this person had taken were in line with what God calls us to do. His actions hurt me, my wife and my family. Just because God brought good from it doesn't change the fact our family was hurt.
It doesn't change the gut response when you see someone praising that person to say "um....no. He's a real jerk. I can't believe you've bought into this guy!"
It was a moment where I first praised God for the work within me. I may have been a believer since 1994 but I'm no master of holding my tongue when a hypocrite is being praised. Even as little as a few years ago I would have responded to that tweep with a message that said "boy, has that person got you snowed" or something similar. Come across to them with the situation to plant the seeds of doubt in their mind that the person they think is all about God really is more about the image they put off. The fact that my first thought wasn't to send that message but to check myself for having the thought is proof that God's working on my heart.
My second thought was about the mysterious justice of God. I can't wait to get to heaven and know exactly why some people like pastors and CEOs and politicians got away with sin after sin after sin and didn't have any earthly payback for it (that we could see.) Why the pastor who doesn't really love or lies to people gets the mega-church or is recognized as some great spiritual leader. Why the CEO who's embezzling funds gets a $50 million golden parachute when he retires and workers get nothing when the company goes bankrupt. Why the smiling politician can stand in front of rally after rally and lie to the people just to get their votes...and get re-elected year after year even though promises don't get kept. Many of us know all about Galatians 6:7 (ESV):
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
You look at some people and ask "Lord, why haven't they reaped yet?" It's especially hard when you know that person in question hasn't been sowing in righteousness because of things that happened to you or your family. The desire for vengeance to come onto those folks is strong. It's why TV shows like Leverage are hits...people like to see the "rich" and "powerful" get their come-uppance for their sins.
Unfortunately, we don't get the choice except to forgive...and forgiveness is really harder than just saying "I forgive you." You have to reach the point where the thought of someone who wronged you getting justice doesn't excite you. We have to forgive just as God has forgiven us. See Isaiah 43:25 (ESV):
I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
He won't remember them. You can't take joy in a "come-uppance" for someone if you don't remember the sins they've committed. THAT is true forgiveness and the standard to which we're all called to live. I know I have some work to do in that area.
What about you? Is there someone you think you've forgiven but would laugh quietly to yourself if they were exposed for what they've done?