Bat Crazy People

 November 16, 2024

Saturday

I just read the testimony of someone who experienced road rage from another driver. I wondered why someone would get so irate at such a minor mistake. The person had not gone when the light turned green so a tap of the horn was used to "wake them up." At that, the person went bat crazy. This person chased the person who tapped the horn, making dangerous moves with their car and hurling obscenities verbally and visually. The other person suddenly turns to get away from that crazy person.

If this story only happened once, then we could chalk it up to one crazy person but we see this type of road rage continually. It is not rare to be passed by two cars chasing each other down the road at dangerous speeds while trying to cause each other harm. This is simply not rational.

So, I have an idea why this may be true though I certainly do not have the psychological or sociological training to back it up. I believe that people who do not know how to receive forgiveness also don't know how to give it. Thus, they have learned to overlook what has happened to them but have not learned to put these things away. This results in the accumulation of slights and hurts and even circumstances that went the wrong way. This accumulation sets them on edge. If their emotional meter has ten points, they have the anxiety, frustration, disappointment and discouragement of nine points before anything else happens. They cannot keep it under control if anything brings their emotional meter up two points because they don't have two points left. So they go crazy.

Our post Christian society thinks that it doesn't need God. Yet, this same society desperately needs forgiveness. Forgiveness is the most prevalent divine attribute of the follower of Jesus Christ. Knowing forgiveness is the catalyst for forgiving others. Forgiving others allows the Christian to release the pressure being built up by all of the stressors each of us face. It can mean that a Christian can operate with their emotional meter on a one or two rather than a nine. It can mean that Christian operating at this level will be able to absorb anything that would bring that meter up two points.

Forgiveness is so important that those who don't forgive also don't really have salvation. That doesn't mean that they must forgive before they become Christians. It means that becoming a Christian causes them to forgive. Just saying that they are Christians without forgiving is just lip service. That is why churches can be as violent as those in the world. They have not received forgiveness because they have not truly believed in Christ for who He is as the one who has taken away their sins. They overlook rather than forgive sins until they can't overlook it any more. Then, they go bat crazy.

The scripture that says that God won't forgive those who won't forgive has always bothered me. Now, I think I may have a grasp on it. Those who won't forgive have never received forgiveness.

This world will, therefore, become more violent as their is a smaller percentage of people who know Christ. There will be a smaller percentage who have received forgiveness. There will be a larger group that are running on nines on their emotional meter.

 Matthew 6:14–15 (NASB 2020) ¹⁴ “For if you forgive other people for their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive your offenses.