The scriptures say, when someone strikes your cheek, you offer them the other one. Love your neighbor and your enemies as yourself. If we reap for our own selfish desires, will reap corruption. And how you measure others, it will be measured back to you.

I love God, for several reasons:

All of his love & laws aren’t meant to turn me into an automaton, or some mindless, choice-voided follower, but a person who sees the truly value in life (and death). He want s me to live my life to the fullest, but with the things that truly matter - having that relationship with Him. And He wants me to share that with others because… well, why wouldn’t you?!?

All of this makes sense… And you would think that this should just "hit you" when you first discover this, and build from there. But for me, it took some time - years actually. It took a while for this to truly penetrate my heart. But once it did, I felt my relationship with Him just grow exponentially.

And yet, I seriously struggle with "being wronged". Yes, I know, "You wrong others more than you are wronged"… "Think of all of the times that you’ve wronged God and He didn’t ‘react’"… "Why do you judge?" I want to say that I’ve gotten better over the years, become more understanding and patient, but I still feel like I carry the same amount of vengeance (no, that’s too strong of a word)… "need for justice". In situations where I’ve handled them better now than I have in the past, exercised patience & understanding instead of getting defensive and argumentative… When those situations still don’t turn out right and yet you’ve gone & done things that should’ve helped the situation, things you were incapable of doing in the past… You sometimes walk away because you just want to lovingly lay hands upon a brother…

It’s difficult to remember what you’ve gone through to get to the place you’re currently at, this "better you" place… You forget that people have their own baggage that they carry, and you don’t know where they are in processing all of it, if they even want to at all! You forget that this isn’t bout them, but about you in God’s way: It’s about glorifying Him, loving helping your brothers draw closer to Him, and not much else. It’s not about "you" and your selfish need for ego-drive justice. We forget our place in God’s Plan.

Pslam 50:6 states "And the heavens declared His righteousness, for God Himself is judge". Nowhere does it state me or you or anyone else. To assume the seat of judge upon others is to forget that God already sits in that seat. To do so is like a pardoned convict demanding that the judge step aside so he can evaluate & sentence a fellow criminal. We don’t have the wisdom, patience or fortitude to sit in that chair - all we can do is take comfort that God is the perfect Judge, handing out mercy and correction at perfect times & in perfect amounts.

We are, and will always be, a recipient of grace. When we are offended by others, we have to remember the countless times that we’ve offended God, and the countless times that He’s shown it to us when we didn’t deserve it.

There’s nothing really wrong with becoming offended - it’s how we react to it that matters. We must remember, and with a passion that can remind us over our reactions, that we seek God’s counsel first, on how to live our lives. We must remember that we pray to God to bring His verses & truths to our minds. But more importantly, pray that you may receive the same mercy as your offender. Its then, when we will have a better understanding of what means to be a child of God.