“. . . for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” Luke 6:35
God is kind to everyone, even to people who are not grateful for the incredible sacrifice He made for them. God is kind even to evil people. And God expects the same from us. He wants us to have mercy for the mean.
Because we live in a fallen world with other sinners, we will have plenty of opportunities to practice mercy. Even in our own families and churches, among people who are supposed to love us, we can be wounded. Healing and restoration begins with forgiveness. God commands us to forgive because He knows that it is good for us. He wants us to be free, not continually chained to that thing they said or did to us.
But what about those who are truly “evil men?” What about the Stalins and Hitlers and modern perpetrators of atrocities? Are we to have mercy on them as well? Are we to forgive them too?
The short answer is, “yes.” Jesus is kind to ungrateful and evil men. He is our example. We are made in His image and likeness; we are expected to have mercy for the mean. But how? How do we forgive truly evil people?
Here is where the beauty of the gospel shines forth in all its glory! The power to forgive “evil men” is found in the beautiful synergy of our will aligning with God’s will, so that He can provide the supernatural empowerment!
Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. We choose to forgive as an act of our will, because we know that it is God’s will. When we choose God’s will over our own will or emotions, then God has the freedom to move . . . in our lives . . . and in the lives of others. We have crossed over into the supernatural realm . . . where all things are possible!
Corrine ten Boom has a powerful testimony of this synergy in her book The Hiding Place. She and her family were imprisoned and terrorized by the Nazis for hiding Jews during WWII. After the war, God had her traveling the world preaching the message, “Forgiveness is the path to healing.” At one such meeting, a guard from the concentration camp where she was traumatized approached her to ask forgiveness. Because of the trauma she experienced, she struggled to align her emotions with the will of God. Once she made the decision to choose forgiveness, God instantly healed her traumatized emotions! And the forgiveness she gave the guard set him on a path of healing as well!
When God asks us to do the hard stuff like having mercy for the mean, He is really doing it for our own good. He wants to heal our hearts! He wants to set us free!!
I’m praising God for Christ in me, the hope of glory!!!!