Daily Manna from Heaven

by Max Lucado

Some years ago a rottweiler attacked our golden retriever puppy at a kennel. The worthless animal climbed out of its run and into Molly’s and nearly killed her. He left her with dozens of gashes and a dangling ear. I wrote a letter to the dog’s owner, urging him to put the dog to sleep.

But when I showed the letter to the kennel owner, she begged me to reconsider. “What that dog did was horrible, but I’m still training him. I’m not finished with him yet.”

God would say the same about the rottweiler who attacked you. “What he did was unthinkable, unacceptable, inexcusable, but I’m not finished yet.”

Your enemies still figure into God’s plan. Their pulse is proof: God hasn’t given up on them. They may be out of God’s will, but not out of his reach. You honor God when you see them, not as his failures, but as his projects.

God occupies the only seat on the supreme court of heaven. He wears the robe and refuses to share the gavel. For this reason Paul wrote, “Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it’ ” (Rom. 12:19 MSG).

Revenge removes God from the equation. Vigilantes displace and replace God. “I’m not sure you can handle this one, Lord. You may punish too little or too slowly. I’ll take this matter into my hands, thank you.”

Is this what you want to say? Jesus didn’t. No one had a clearer sense of right and wrong than the perfect Son of God. Yet, “when he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly” (1 Pet. 2:23 GOD’S WORD).

Only God assesses accurate judgments. We impose punishments too slight or severe. God dispenses perfect justice. Vengeance is his job. Leave your enemies in God’s hands. You’re not endorsing their misbehavior when you do. You can hate what someone did without letting hatred consume you. Forgiveness is not excusing.

Nor is forgiveness pretending. David didn’t gloss over or sidestep Saul’s sin. He addressed it directly. He didn’t avoid the issue, but he did avoid Saul.

Do the same. Give grace, but, if need be, keep your distance. You can forgive the abusive husband without living with him. Be quick to give mercy to the immoral pastor, but be slow to give him a pulpit. Society can dispense grace and prison terms at the same time. Offer the child molester a second chance, but keep him off the playgrounds.

Forgiveness is not foolishness.

Forgiveness is, at its core, choosing to see your offender with different eyes. You don’t excuse him, endorse her, or embrace them. You just route thoughts about them through heaven. You see your enemy as God’s child and revenge as God’s job.

By the way, how can we grace-recipients do anything less? Dare we ask God for grace when we refuse to give it? This is a huge issue in Scripture. Jesus was tough on sinners who refused to forgive other sinners. In the final sum, we give grace because we’ve been given grace.

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“The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.” -Proverbs 10:9

“I’ll be home by 9 o’clock.” But nine comes and he doesn’t show. The same thing is true of ten, and eleven. You finally hear the door at 11:50. “I thought you said you’d be home by 9 o’clock.” “Yeah, but something happened.”

Then what about the line, “The check’s in the mail.” So you wait three more days, then four more days, and finally a week. And still no check. You call and say, “I understood you to say that your check was in the mail.” “Well, I thought it was,” is the reply you get, followed by a pretty incredulous line about the envelope getting lost in the mail. Sure.

Taking inventory for a minute, would you say that people are less prone to keep their word, less apt to show up when they say they will be there, and generally have less integrity, than a few years ago?

When national figures disappoint you and what they say is often questioned, when ministers and clergy seem to lead two lives—one personal and the other public, when educators say that moral values can be taught without religion, is it any wonder that talk about integrity today sounds as relevant as a discussion of the fourth vertebrae of an extinct dinosaur?

“OK,” you say, “I’m with you. But what can we do to stop the erosion of character today?” More than you might think. First, let’s define our terms. Integrity is what you are—it’s the moral fiber within you that determines what you are. Character is like the flip side of the coin. It relates more to your actions—what you do.

The foundation of integrity is an old-fashioned moral belief that there is a God in heaven who cares about what happens on planet Earth. It is based on the fact that He calls some things right and other things wrong. The Ten Commandments were not given as “Ten Suggestions” or “Ten Ideas about Morality.” They were both negative and positive as God said, “This is wrong and these things are right.”

Another foundation stone of integrity is responsibility and accountability, which, like two oars of a little rowboat, keep your life on an even keel.

Shortly before his death, author James Michener talked about the changes which he had seen in his generation. He said that the old days were not really so great but that a generation ago men and women considered some things right and others wrong. They didn’t always do right, but they knew the difference. But today, he contended, individuals who don’t know the difference are dangerous and a threat to society.

John Souter, in an article entitled, “That Missing Word: Integrity,” says that there are four enemies of integrity. He describes them as deception, shallowness, artificiality, and expediency.

Deception was what Abraham used when he didn’t want to admit that Sarah was his wife. “She is my sister,” he said—which was a half-truth.

Shallowness, the second enemy of integrity, is the belief that it doesn’t really matter. “Everybody’s doing it,” people say, excusing their behavior. Shallowness is the refusal to take an unpopular stand, saying, “It’s not my fight.” Character is the result of convictions, which are the foundation of integrity.

Artificiality is the curse of our day. “How are you doing?” someone asks, and you respond, “Oh, just fine.” You are not, but neither do you want the emotional involvement of giving an honest answer.

Expedience, the fourth enemy of integrity, is the path of least resistance, the short-cut. It is the presumption that if your wife will never know, it’s OK to do it. It is sacrificing the permanent on the altar of the expedient, and it is the curse of our day. No matter what the cost, integrity is worth it.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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