Forgive and Wait and...

October 29

Have you ever loved someone in spite of himself? You know the type—the inconsiderate lover who takes all you have to give of kindness and acceptance but extends nothing to you in exchange. Or the rebellious child whose actions belie the fact that he has been reared in a loving, accepting home; the child who prefers his questionable friends to his kind and gracious parents?

We all have. We have borne unrequited love in the hope that one day things would change, that love would become a ‘two-way-street’ upon which respect and honor flow freely between us and the object of our delight. God knows that feeling even better than we do.

While we may have been patient and persistent in extending love to the unlovely people in our lives, the Lord of Heaven and Earth has given Jesus Christ, the sinless God-Man to bear our sins as the world’s ultimate act of loving sacrifice, as the benchmark of patient anticipation of a mutually loving relationship with those who rebuff and scorn His love.

In Jeremiah 33:8 He states His intent, “They sinned against Me but I will wash away their sin. They did evil and turned away from Me, but I will forgive them.” He, like the patient lover or parent, knows His love has been rebuffed, but He will not hold sin against His people. He will forgive, and wait--and continue to love.