“Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22

Years ago, Elizabeth Elliot was featured on the radio ministry Revive Our Hearts. The name of her talk was entitled, “Why Not Be Offended?” I was starting dinner at the time, and I had to stop and listen carefully because I took notes on everything she said. Because of the season I was in, her wisdom spoke powerfully to me.

What did Elizabeth Elliot teach? In a nutshell, she taught about how and why we should forgive those who act offensively toward us. Choose to be offended, as Christ did, rather than retaliating–just let it go. I heard someone recently talk about how many insults Jesus faced throughout his arrest and his trial before Pilate, but “He didn’t choose to die on that hill.” He didn’t defend himself. He didn’t name call. The most He said was that Pilate did not have any authority over Him that His Father in Heaven did not give him. He kind of said, “I’m letting you do this to me.” He chose, rather, to die on Calvary for you and for me.

If anyone had earned the right to teach on forgiveness, it was Elizabeth Elliot. My kids read the biography of Nate Saint in September as part of our reading and history. Nate Saint was an aviation missionary who helped other missionaries with their work in hard to reach places. He could get supplies in to them or take them for medical help in under an hour, when it would have taken them days to get in and out of the Ecuadorian jungle on foot. Elizabeth’s husband Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and three other men worked together to make friendly contact with a “stone-age” tribe that was known for violence and vengeful behavior. Tragically, all of the men were speared to death.

What moved me most about the tragic deaths of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and the other men in their group is that they could have defended themselves, but they chose not to. They chose to be offended. They knew that if they used the guns they had in self defense, their actions could keep the tribe set against white visitors who wanted to take them the gospel that they desperately needed. And, even more, they had decided that they could not kill their attackers because they knew that they would be sending them straight to hell. They wanted the tribesmen who killed them to live to receive Christ.

Two years after the men died, God provided Elizabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint (Nate’s sister) with an open door to live among the Waodäni tribe that took the lives of their loved ones. The tribesmen, who had lived by the rule of revenge, expected them to retaliate. Forgiveness was such a foreign concept to the Waodäni that they did not even have a word for forgive in their vocabulary, but through the forgiveness they received from Elizabeth and Rachel, they were able to grasp the forgiveness God offered them through Jesus Christ, and many have become saved!

Part of modeling the gospel of Jesus Christ is forgiving those who sin against us. Requisite to and as a result of our own forgiveness is willingness to forgive others as God forgives us in Christ Jesus… Ephesians 4:32. Forgiveness is not calling it good when it is not. It is not excusing wrong away and it is not ignoring it or forgetting it either. I imagine it was with trepidation and desperate prayer that Elizabeth Elliot went to live among the people who had so cruelly murdered her husband. Love holds others accountable, while forgiveness does not seek revenge. It is wanting the best for someone else, regardless of whether they deserve it. Other’s ultimate benefit is received in a right relationship with God.

Are we contributing to helping them understand what God has for them? Do they see His character in us? Do we encourage them to think right and do right?

I am not encouraging victims to put themselves in harm’s way. A woman who is in a violent relationship needs to get out.

But I wonder how many of us would be willing to walk into potential harm in order to befriend those who are un-reached in far off lands?

More stay than go. Are we willing to be offended to model the gospel for the unsaved who are nearby?

Image by Adam from Pixabay