Forgiveness For Unbelievers

How do you feel about forgiveness for unbelievers? Every now and then I hear of people (unbelievers) who ridicule, harass or otherwise act badly toward people of faith. This is to be expected, since the Word tells us plainly that if we follow Christ we shall suffer persecution (2 Tim 3:12). Because of this warning we should expect those who don’t believe to, at best, disregard what we say. But how about those who take their rejection of the gospel even further? What do we do about those who openly criticize us, belittle us, speak evil of us, or worse?

Luke 9:51-56

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.

How we respond to the rejection of others may provide a good way for us to check our own walk with the Lord. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten frustrated and angry with the rebellion and obnoxious attitudes of unbelievers – sometimes to the point that I have said inappropriate things. After all, am I not sharing life with them? Don’t they get it? It’s irritating to me that they reject the Word of God! I’m pretty sure we have all shared those thoughts at some point or another. Yet, as I draw closer to Christ I understand that our mission is not to condemn those who oppose us, but to show them some compassion. The text above is a perfect example of the attitude we should have.

Jesus had spent the last few years performing miracle after miracle, healing after healing, and in a number of other ways showed Himself to be the Messiah everyone was looking for. So when the Samaritan village refused to host Him, they were – in essence – rejecting Him. How dare they! I completely understand why James and John felt the way they did. And yet, Jesus rebuked them and not the people who rejected Him! What is the principle Jesus is teaching us? This principle is the very motivation of why Christ came in the first place – to save the lost. It can be seen in multiple locations throughout the Word, such as is in this verse;

Rom 2:4-5

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

The message Jesus conveys to His disciples concerning how we deal with the hostility of unbelievers is that we are to walk in the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and act as ambassadors for Christ! I have seen time after time how Christians respond toward those who aggressively reject the Word of God. Often times unbelievers are subjected to mean, hateful and unloving remarks by those who profess Christ. The end result is that those who reject God are driven further away from the only One Who can save them!

The next time we are confronted by those who reject or refuse the gospel we need to take time to listen to the Holy Spirit within us. He will give us the words to say, and provide the peace we need to walk in love toward those who don’t know Christ. In this way we can be sure that our words align with the character of the One we speak of. It often comes down to what we do and how we respond to rejection more than what we just say, as our actions (and responses) can speak much louder than just our words.