A Better Solution for Injustice

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This is the second post in a two-part series about anger and forgiveness. Read Part 1 here. 

Forgiveness is better than anger at dealing with injustice—though it doesn’t get stuff done in the same way that anger does. 

Before talking about getting stuff done, here’s what I mean by forgiveness. It’s not pretending or feeling like injustice hasn’t happened, but instead… 

Forgiveness is turning injustice (like bad debt) over to God (like the collection agency).

Forgiving someone doesn’t heal the ways they have wounded you. But it does release you from the further harm of trying to bring about justice yourself. Fixing the injustice is now God's responsibility, not yours. 

Forgiveness sounds like it would have some drawbacks, doesn’t it? 

  • It might not make the intruder leave your little kingdom. 
  • It might not prevent future invasions. 
  • It might not lead the intruder to pay you back for the ways they’ve hurt you. 
But I would argue that when you use anger to do those things, you might get the job done, but you also make future teamwork with that person a lot more unlikely. 

And let’s be honest: those are really good outcomes in a lot of cases, but anger doesn’t accomplish them as often as you’d think. What if the invader in your life is bigger than you? wealthier? better with words? willing to hurt you in ways your conscience doesn’t let you hurt them? 

Acting in anger doesn’t bring deliverance. It kicks off an arms race. 

If anger isn’t good for making things right, what is it for? It’s an important indicator that something isn’t right, that someone is disrespecting an important part of God’s image in you or someone else. So be angered!—but don’t sin (Eph. 4:26). Recognize anger as a distress signal, but don’t let it march you into battle. 

Again, forgiveness doesn’t mean pretending you haven’t been hurt or acting like the other person is safe. It just means that you’re turning over to God the burden of making things right. That’s a burden you were never meant to carry. 

Whether God carries that burden by loosing His judgment on the offender or by calling them to repentance (there’s no one better at calling people to repentance than the Spirit of Wisdom!), you can trust Him to make things right in the best way possible.

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