Patient when Wronged

Sometimes I think God might not sanctify us in certain areas just to keep us humble. One minute you’re thinking “Thank you God that I am not like that publican” and the next minute you realize just how unsanctified you actually are.

For me, I get all bent out of shape when I feel like I’ve been wronged. I teach my boys to just blow this stuff of, but I hope they do as I say and not as I do, because I don’t do so good.

Example: I was at the grocery store the other day with my 2 oldest sons. I was trying to get two little boys into the van and unload my cart, and the cart rolled about 6 inches and bumped the truck next to me. There was no damage to the truck at all. But this guy hops out of the truck and starts to get on to me because I let my cart hit his truck.

I didn’t lose my temper with him, but I wasn’t what you would call gentle. I did manage – barely – to keep from deliberately ramming the cart into his pretty red truck over and over. He got back in his truck pretty quickly and didn’t say anything else.

As I drove away I was thinking I should have told him this and that and blah blah blah. And then it struck me just how utterly _immature_ I was being. Big deal, right? The guy was a jerk. Maybe it was a brand new truck. Maybe it was all he could do to afford it. Maybe he’s just having a bad day.

But you know what? I’m _still_ kind of mad about it, and it’s been almost a week. Because I was wronged. He was mean when he shouldn’t have been. Poor little Robert. Somebody call a wahmbulance.

Another example: There’s a person at work who is in charge of keeping control over certain types of changes. I asked this person what type of control we needed for a particular change and was told “None”. Several weeks later, this person is throwing a fit because I didn’t “follow procedure” even though s/he said I didn’t need to. Boy am I mad. I’ve been wronged! My response – which I’ve kept to myself so far – has gone way beyond defending myself. I want to be vindicated!

What is all this except pride? It ought to be so _easy_ to kick this sin. This one is entirely under my control. It’s not like a “heat of the moment” loss of my temper – it lingers on and on. It’s not even _fun_ for crying out loud!

Thank you, Lord, for teaching me humility. Please keep this on my mind, and may I judge others by the standards I want to be judged by. Thank you for your mercy and grace. Thank you that you pity those who fear You just as a father pities his own children. You know our frame and you remember that we are but dust.