Psalm 51:4 (NLT)
“Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.”
Yesterday, I was talking to a friend from DC, and he asked me whether I had ever felt the need to take revenge on those who have hurt me. The Holy Spirit immediately reminded me of this verse: “Against you, and you alone, have I sinned.”
That verse shifts everything. We often think that when someone wrongs us, they have sinned against us. Or when we hurt someone, it’s just between us and them. But David understood something deeper—every sin, no matter who it seems directed at, is ultimately a sin against God.
When someone lies to you, they are not just deceiving you—they are sinning against God. When someone mistreats you, betrays you, or disrespects you, yes, it hurts, but ultimately, they are sinning against God, not just you. And when I make choices in life, I don’t just think about how they affect people; I think about how they affect my relationship with God.
So when my friend asked me if I had ever wanted revenge, I told him that I was never committed to doing the right thing because of a person. I was committed to doing the right thing because I feared God. If someone treated me unfairly, my response wasn’t about them—it was about my obedience to God. Even if I was unaware of the ways someone was hurting me, God saw everything. He is ever-seeing. And those actions were not sins against me but against God.
This is why my actions are not based on how much I love someone at a particular moment. Because let’s be honest—sometimes, we argue, we fight, and we don’t always feel love. And my actions are not determined by how well someone treats me or what they provide for me. My choices are based on the fact that I never want to grieve the Holy Spirit.
When we truly grasp this, it transforms how we relate to others. We stop holding onto anger. We stop looking for revenge. We stop justifying our bad behavior by saying, “Well, they did this to me first.” Instead, we start seeing people through the lens of grace, knowing that our real accountability is before God, not man.
That’s why we must choose to love, even when it’s hard. To forgive, even when they don’t deserve it. To walk in kindness, even when we feel justified in being cold. Because in the end, our actions are not just about them—they are about God.
That’s really what was on my heart today.
Oh, and before I forget—yesterday, something made me really happy. I reconciled with a friend I had fallen out with in December. And just like that, everything was okay again! Hahaha. It’s funny because I keep joking that if he misbehaves, I’ll block him again. Lol. And this same person once told me that I’m so harsh, he’s actually scared of me. Can you imagine? Me? A whole me? Someone being scared of me? I mean, I’m literally the sweetest person ever! Hahahaha.
Anyway, that made my day.
Have a blessed one! 🖤