Been Done Wrong?

Did you ever find yourself struggling with a sense that somebody ‘done you wrong’? Maybe something simple like your spouse doing ‘that thing’ that you specifically asked them not to do? Or a neighbor who borrows a tool and returns it late and in worse condition than they took it – with no apology. Maybe you’ve been done wrong in a more significant way. You’ve been slandered. Your teenager blames you for their lousy life. Someone has committed a crime against you.

Life in this world means we will be wronged. But does being wronged need to be a life consuming experience? How can we rise above both the small and great ‘been done wrong’ experiences of life? Jonathan Edwards, who knew from experience about being wronged, gives us a key to rising above wrongs done to us in his classic exposition of 1 Corinthians 13, “Charity and Its Fruits”.

Men can injure God's people only with respect to worldly good. But the more a man loves God, the less is his heart set on the things of the world, and the less he feels the injuries that his enemies may inflict, because they cannot reach beyond these things. And so it often is the case, that the friends of God hardly think the injuries they receive from men are worthy of the name of injuries, and the calm and quietness of their minds are scarcely disturbed by them. And as long as they have the favor and friendship of God, they are not much concerned about the evil work and injuries of men. (Page 81)

The wrongs done to us should never define us, because they can never touch that which is most important to us, and that which is most important about us. We have been declared righteous and have received the favor and friendship of God through the reconciliation of Jesus Christ crucified and raised for our sin and our salvation!