Lose the Battle, Win the War

August 22, 2008

By William E. Richardson

“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy” (Micah 6:8, NKJV).

When someone wrongs you or a person you care about, it can start a fire within you. Dwelling on hurt feelings feeds the flame. Verbalizing anger may cause the fire to rage.

You may be ready for a war. You can catapult fiery words at your opponent or use actions like a flamethrower.

There’s another option.

You can choose to be soothed rather than sear by listening to the Holy Spirit. He’s likely not to commission you to do battle. He will give you the power to forgive the offender. He’ll help you show mercy.

While we’d prefer the Bible’s words “to love mercy” to mean “I love receiving mercy,” it really means “I love to give mercy.” Attacking the “enemy” worsens the situation while showing mercy most often improves it. When the smoke clears, mercy is always more powerful than vengeance.

The other party may not request forgiveness. They may want to fight. You can attack them, you can win the battle, you can return home in ecstatic revelry. However, if vengeance wins and mercy loses, you’re losing the real war.

Mercy opens our ears and eyes. It shines a spotlight on our target of wrath. We see the object of our ire as a person whom Jesus died for. Winning our personal battle loses its importance. We back away.

In showing mercy, we don’t pretend the offense never occurred. We acknowledge it did but douse our internal flame by choosing to forgive the offense. We accept that Jesus loves and wants to forgive the other person as much as He loves and wants to forgive us.

The Bible says we are in a war. The war it describes isn’t against foes of flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). It’s a spiritual war we win by how we live for God and by how we fight on our knees.

For conflicts involving even belligerent fellow humans, winning one-on-one battles does not win the war in our service to God. When we lose those battles by extending mercy, we win big in the spiritual war. That’s the one that really matters.

— William E. Richardson is senior pastor of Afton (Iowa) Assembly of God.