“Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. ‘But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.'” (Romans 12:19-20, NASB95) [1]
A friend of mine was approached by a sheriff’s deputy who served him with a warrant. The friend was then handcuffed and placed into a cruiser. He was then taken to a makeshift jail where he had to serve time until he could raise enough funds to get him out. This was part of a fund raiser called “Jail and Bail”.
The person who was served with a warrant could pay some money not to serve time. Whether the person served time or not he could for a price find out who had taken the warrant out on him. Then for a price he could take a warrant out on the person who had taken one out on him. In this case revenge was a good money maker.
It is part of our human nature to want to take revenge. From the Scripture above we know that we are not to do this, though. We are to do the opposite which we can only do if we have Jesus Christ living inside of us.
Prayer: Father, please forgive us when we want to take revenge rather than forgive. Help us to love others as You would have us love them. In the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, Amen.
Thought: Let us not take revenge but show forgiveness.
By Dean W. Masters
dwmasters@earthlink.net Owner of the Masters List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/masterslist Unedited redistribution approved
[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA