Faithfulness

When we have been wronged, it is so very tempting to want revenge.  It is human to expect a price from someone who has gained at our expense.  When we are going through something painful or difficult at the hands of another person, we want to see them suffer and feel our pain, so they understand what they are doing to us.  They have broken our faith in them, and we want to exact punishment.

But God is just and fair, and in truth, there is no one who hasn't caused pain, created a wound on another, or forced suffering in some way.  We are all sinners, and we have all broken faith with God.  So, if he is going to punish one, he must punish all, for we all fall short.  We are all faithless, when it comes down to it.

But God is ever faithful to us.  He acknowledges our unworthiness, and yet, he allows us reprieve.  Into our broken human condition, God sent one who was perfect to redeem us and bring us back to him, if only we accept the gift.  In 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12 we read:

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering.  For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,  when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.  To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God is not allowing the pain of our human condition to break us.  Rather, he is conditioning us to submit to his will for us, so that we can join him in all of heaven's glory.  And in so doing, we are demonstrating for those who do not believe the power of God in all his grace and glory.

The power of the Holy Spirit is shown in his faithfulness to us.  We demonstrate the power of God by being faithful to others.  Grace is the gift of mercy to the unworthy.  Glorify God by being faithful to those who are undeserving, and God will give you grace in your unworthiness, as well.