Only abundance can help. But what is it? By Joshua Nebblett
Injustice. How I hate it.
My wife Shayla had called me for breakfast. I threw on a shirt, grabbed my phone and was just making my way to the door when it buzzed. I glanced at the screen and my pleasant morning was gone. First my pulse went weak, then my heart started pounding. My head turned bright red. My collar became too tight. There was no sign of my appetite (impractical, only 90 seconds before I reached the table).
What triggered it is beside the point. The fact that it took less than 10 seconds is terrifying. Peace gone. Instead, massive indignation, confusion, disappointment, outrage.
I've been struggling all day. Probably my hardest day in over 3 years. I found it hard to pray for compassionate feelings. I was in the middle of never-ending month-end closings, employee issues, loan applications, meetings; plus the daily barrage of emails and messages from other communication platforms.
To the extent that I truly abhor tyranny, I also love freedom. But a libertarian (merciful) spirit towards those who are unjust is all but impossible for me pathetic worm. All day I fought against the very sin in my heart that I condemned in others.
24 hours later, still begging for mercy and peace, I began to read an article that one of my brothers-in-law had sent me two days earlier. We were discussing a completely different theological topic. What I read there literally saved me.
"Humility in abundance excludes all pride, meekness in abundance excludes anger, gentleness excludes all cruelty, kindness excludes all evil, righteousness excludes all unrighteousness, holiness excludes all sin, mercy excludes all unkindness and revenge, truth excludes all falsehood and deceit; and where one loves God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind and with all his strength, there is no room for enmity or hatred against him or against anything that belongs to him; so if a man loves his neighbor as himself, he will do no harm to that neighbor; on the contrary, he will cherish kind feelings towards him and do him good as far as possible." Adam Clarke
I hadn't realized the concept of abundance. Love is after all the most serious element in the universe - no injustice or tyranny, conniving or malice is capable of even partially displacing the fullness of love in a vessel. When the vessel is full of love, nothing contrary will fit inside.
I lost my peace in 10 seconds. The fight over it lasted 24 hours. But I got it back in 30 seconds.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your abundance!
"From his fullness we have all received grace for grace." (John 1:16)
Source: hoffnung-weltweit.info
