Revenge

From Paul…

”Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For scriptures say… ‘I will take revenge, I will pay them back,’ says the Lord. Instead…If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads. Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” Romans 12:19-22

It is so easy to… have an attitude of I am right, they are wrong, take a side, be so offended by what they said, and shut someone out of your life when a disagreement is alive in a relationship.

But…it is written (so we are to obey) – we are told as followers of Christ who are filled with God’s Spirit to not take revenge. No means NO! NO revenge, no attitude, no gossip, no pouting.

I am gonna be honest, this is hard and I have experienced many events in my life recently when picking the Lord vs revenge was reality!

It is not the “easy road” to pick forgiveness and rest in the Lord to fight our battles, but it is the “right road.” To become forgiveness and to become love is the Christian way. Paul tells us this in Romans 12.

In verse 9 it says, “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.”

Forgiveness involves both attitude and action! Our feelings can get in the way of forgiveness, but try and do something kind for a person you can’t seem to forgive and see what happens. Action can lead to right feelings; feelings of love and unity.

Be free and forgive, even if your enemy does not forgive you. A heavy load of bitterness will be lifted and you will be following God’s way – the right way!

Stay Rooted,

L & H