“Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause; and deceive not with thy lips. 29. Say not, I will do so to him as he has done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.”
This text forbids retaliating against our "neighbors." Here is what is wrong with retaliation: First, retaliation is wrong. There is a refrain against needless retaliation throughout the Bible. Most importantly, Jesus taught against it in the Sermon on the Mount, by teaching us to “turn the other cheek,” or to “go the second mile.” The Bible does not teach us that it will be easy not to retaliate, but it does teach us that it is wrong to retaliate.(I have to remind myself of this often.) Second, retaliation never does any good and leads to more and more destruction. The famous story about the feud between the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s comes to mind. The sad thing is that it was a real feud that went on and on and never did anything good for either family. I have seen retaliation destroy churches, which are supposed to be made up of Christians who should know better. Unresolved retaliation leads to a bitter spirit. Hebrews 12:14-15 warns about it: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. 15. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” Third, unless someone wises up and ends it, retaliation never ends. There is no such thing as “getting back.” When one person gets back at another person, the other person gets back, then the first person gets back, and it just goes on and on until one of the people sees the fruitlessness of it and ends it. (Wow what a long sentence.) Because retaliation is endless, it never brings satisfaction to the soul – to the heart. As long as we are retaliating, our hearts are not at peace. Fourth, the only remedy for retaliation is forbearance and forgiveness. Forbearance means, for example, that we overlook the wrong that we think was done to us. Forgiveness means that we have actually forgotten the insult and moved on with our lives. Frankly, I do not want to give anybody the power to rob me of peace in my heart. Peace with God means more to me than getting back at another person. I did not say that I am never tempted to retaliate, or that I have never tried to retaliate. Hey, I ain’t perfect. I just know that retaliation did not bring me peace until I forgave the person, or people, and moved on with my life. That is the case against retaliation. Amen! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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