by Jonathan
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” ~ Jesus
Thieves steal. Sometimes the impact is NOW; you know it immediately and you feel it deeply. Other times, it takes some time; the bomb’s on a delay. And then it blows and you begin to realize all that was taken. All the time lost, the lives shattered, the relationships fractured. It feels like the wind gets knocked right out of you and you can’t even tell if the crater in your soul feels like anger or sadness or some other concoction of pain. But it’s definitely pain.
Sometimes the thief steals stuff, but often it’s more. Much more.
Maybe the thief looked like a robber on the back of a moto, or a home invader. Maybe the thief was a corrupt government, stealing freedom, opportunities, and futures. Maybe the thief was a cruel family member, or someone from your church or mission, a “friend.”
Whoever they were, they stole, they destroyed, and they killed. Or at least they tried.
Continue reading at A Life Overseas…
The Trotter Family 
“He does not allow abuse to go unanswered. He does not deny or blameshift or dismiss injury. He pursues the thief to the end, demanding reparations. He sees what was done. He knows the truth.”
This awareness has been such a comfort to me. More than anything else, I needed God to acknowledge that wrong was done. I didn’t want vengeance or to pay anyone back; I just wanted God to, as it were, say it out loud: “That was wrong.” And He did. On the cross.
He died to provide for me forgiveness, to be the justice that answers the wrongs I’ve done. All creation cries out for it.
And He died for the wrongs committed against me, to satisfy my cry for justice. Beyond merely destroying my enemy, Christ took my enemy’s sin and injustice upon himself, doing for my enemy what He also has done for me.
Coukd I ask for more? My Lord gave Himself as the propitiation for my enemy’s sin. When I said, “Lord, it wasn’t THAT bad; I wouldn’t have asked you to die for it,” He replied, “But it was. And I love you enough to even take the cross.”
When forgiveness is elusive and I want to bear a grudge, when bitterness threatens to spring up like a poisonous weed, coming back to this truth quiets my spirit and calms my soul.
The thief can’t touch this peace.
Thanks so much for the comment, Lisa! Amen and Amen! “The thief can’t touch this peace…”
— Jonathan T.