Steven S Veach

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Whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, commendable, virtuous, or praiseworthy, meditate on these things. this is mystical, metaphysical mind renewal. It is an active command, perpetual with no assessment of completion, with hope of possibility and volition. These all interact and build off one another, and on these we are to chew, consider, manipulate within our minds.

The Text:

How Does God Wish for me to Proceed When Faced with Offense?

Ἀπλῶς (aplōs) Peshat (פְּשָׁט) (Literal Meaning)

1. This will take some time to unpack I’m afraid.
2. The simplest, straight-forward answer is, “Forgive.”

Ἀλληγορία (Remez, alegorical), Διδασκαλία (Derash, homiletical), Μυστικός (Sod, Mystical), Μυστήριον (Pesher, prophetic)

1. What did God do? –
   • God showed his love to us by sending us his son even when we were still in our sins, moving him to die for us that we might live in him and through him (Romans 5:8; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9–10; Eph 2:4–5; Titus 3:4–5). He reconciled us to himself through the dead of Jesus, even when we were considered by him to be his enemies (Romans 5:10). We were alienated by our thoughts, our wicked works, and yet, he brought us and presented us to himself as holy, blameless, and above reproach (Colossians 1:21–22).
   • It is through his blood (his sacrifice) that we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7), for he has chosen to blot out our sin for his own agenda, his own sake; he chooses to remember our sins no more (Isaiah 43:25). For God does not remain angry forever. He delights in mercy (Micah 7:18–19). It is here, in this moment, that God has forgiven us and removed our iniquity from his sight.
2. What did Jesus do?
   • Jesus who is the Christ suffered the immense, incomprehensible punishment for our collective sin. He paid the blood price that we could not pay. He set the record, wiped out our debt and quickened us back to spiritual life (1 Peter 3:18).
   • When there was a myriad of other options. When Jesus could have called down angels in the multitudes (Matt 26:53), when he could have refused to suffer and die at our hand (Matt 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 18:11). On the cross, at the worst moments of death, his response was toward us, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
3. What are we called to do from Scripture?
   • We are commanded imperatively, “forgive men their trespasses, [and] your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14–15; Eph 4:32; Col 3:13; Mark 11:25; Luke 6:37; Matt 18:21–22). Forgiveness is at the core and is the essence and substance of the gospel message. It is the fuel on which the engine of the Kingdom ignites into life.
   • How often? To what extent? “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him” (Luke 17:3–4). It is important to notice the qualifier in this verse, “repent.” What if our brother sins against us and we do not rebuke him? What if he sins against us, and we do rebuke him, but he does not repent? There is direct connection to Matthew 18:15–17, and 18:21, 22, and mystical or prophetic connection from here to the “seventy times seven” to 490 in Daniel 9:24–27.
   • Reconciliation is everyone’s responsibility. It falls on the offender and the offended alike to seek restoration for both parties. Our disagreements, our hostilities between us directly affect our standing and relationship and sacrifice to God (Matthew 5:23–24).

Conclusions:

1. I am left wondering, how far is too far? How much pursuit of reconciliation is the offended to devote to before “enough is enough?” How much time and investment did God put into his pursuit of us? Did he not leave the 99 for the 1? Did he not, even when we were hostile to him, even when we were wicked in our behavior and blasphemous to his face, did he not comfort us, consider us, do what was in our best interest?
2. I fall far from this idea of pursuit of those who have wounded me. I try desperately to find a solution, find a path forward, even in the midst of my hurt and pain and sense of betrayal. I try not to project the sins of one individual or one group of individuals onto another. But, I fall inevitably and irreconcilably short at every point along the way.

Next Session:

1. Rom 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Prayers:

1. These are privately posted to my blog and not available to the public.
2. Jesus Prayer: “Lord, Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Benediction:

“Now [may] the God of peace himself sanctify us completely; and may our whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who calls us is faithful and is willing to do it” (1 Th 5:23-24).

Amen…