“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay saith the Lord.”
Have you ever heard anyone say, “I’ll get you for that”? Worse yet, have you ever said, “I’ll get you for that”? When I taught school years ago (more years than I want to remember) I heard children say those words a lot. I could have put it off as “child’s play,” except that in the “adult world” I have heard a lot of the same thing. In fact, I have heard a lot of it in the church. It is a natural human tendency to want to repay someone for something that they have done to us. I’ll just have to confess that I have to watch that tendency in myself. There is just something about us that can’t stand feeling that another person has gotten the best of us. As natural as it may seem, the Bible tells us over and over again that we are not to seek revenge for wrongs done to us. Why? Because, for one thing, the Good Lord knows that there is no such thing as final revenge. We can’t get even, because the person we got even with is probably not dead and will try to get even with us. There is just no end to it. The best example of this that I know of is the Arab/ Israeli conflict. They are always trying to get even with each other, and all that happens is that the conflict just keeps spiraling out of control. In my memory, almost every one of our presidents has tried to bring peace between these two factions – all to no avail. Why? Because they just have to get even. This conflict has been going on for, give or take, 5,000 years, and until they realize that there is no such thing as revenge, it will continue. (I have often said that the only solution to that conflict will be the second coming of Jesus Christ.) What is the antidote for this poison called revenge? The Bible gives us one word that can bring an end to seeking revenge – forgiveness. Jesus set the perfect example for us. According to Luke’s gospel, the first words of Jesus from the cross were, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I know that we are not Jesus, but He has given us the capacity to forgive as well. Paul gave some advice in Ephesians 4:31-32 that could take care of a lot of our penchant for revenge: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour (shouting at each other), and evil speaking (slander), be put away from you, with all malice. 32. And be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate), forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” The point is that we, who have been forgiven, should also be willing to forgive. After all, Christ did not have to forgive us for our sins against Him, and we have all sinned against Him. But in His grace, mercy and love Jesus forgives us when we ask him. This is all the more reason for us to be forgiving. In order to do this, we must have forgiving hearts. How do we get forgiving hearts? We do it through a lot of prayer for those who have offended us. We have to depend on the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He will help us forgive – if we really want to forgive. Almost every church problem that I have seen, and after 54 years in the ministry I have seen a lot of them, could be solved with three wonderful words:“I forgive you.” Those three words are right up there with “I love you.” When you feel the urge to think, or say, “I’ll get you for that,” remember Jesus’ words from the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and follow suit. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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