Should I rejoice when karma comes to people who have hurt me?

Here's the Precious Prodigal post for August 11, 2014: Should I rejoice when karma comes to people who have hurt me? #karma #agapelove Please "Share" using this "ShortLink" = http://bit.ly/VgGVLr

1 Cor 13:6 “[Love] rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.”

Forgiveness can be a maze of complex feelings and automatic responses where we don’t really know how we feel or why we respond the way we do. When I was younger, I mostly saw things as either black or white and couldn’t see that some life situations don’t fall easily into a category of absolutes. I’ve become wiser over the years, and I see things more objectively. At least I like to think I do.

I usually refuse to believe what I hear about people until it’s proven or they tell me themselves. However, that doesn’t always carry over to people I’m not happy with. Unfortunately, I’m only too ready to believe the worst about someone who has hurt me, people I don’t “mesh” with, or those people who don’t like me. That doesn’t mean I “rejoice in their iniquity,” does it?

Here’s the litmus test. I’m reluctant to say, “choose someone you don’t like” because most of us aren’t willing to label someone like that, even though there are probably plenty of them. So let’s just say someone who has hurt you in the past…an ex-husband or ex-wife, some other relative or “friend,” or that person from church who gets on your last nerve.

You hear that person has done something that is absolutely wrong. Do you feel a sense of satisfaction and say to yourself, “I knew it all along!” or is there a real sense of sadness that this person is sinning against God and going down a path that is sure to bring suffering to themselves and others? Do you find yourself anticipating “Karma” and enjoying it?

Answering those questions is a beginning, but the real test is when you hear or find out that what you heard is not true, and that person didn’t do what you heard or thought they did. What’s your response then? Are you reluctant to believe the better report? Do you tell yourself (and even others), “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire?”

If the good report is proven, is there joy in your heart that your enemy isn’t doing the wrong thing after all and isn’t going to suffer because of it? Because agape love…the kind of love that’s required of us…doesn’t rejoice when someone does the wrong thing. It rejoices in the truth. And agape love can't be separated from forgiveness.

Forgiveness is like any other lifestyle change in that we will get better with practice. The first step is taking an honest look at our own attitudes. Forgiving that person and choosing to rejoice in the truth may not make one bit of difference in the lives of anyone else. But it can and it will make an enormous difference in our own peace of mind.

Challenge for today: Can you, just for today, ask God to help you love and forgive your enemies as well as your friends?