Revoking Revenge |
God's View:
Deut. 32:35
; Rom. 12:17-21
-Illicit revenge is making someone pay-Now!-for
a real or perceived wrong without any desire for reconciliation. Vengeance
is part of the character of God and is not in contradiction with His love
and mercy. Revenge involves a desire for justice, to seeugliness destroyed,
wrongs righted and beauty restored.
Hope:
Ps. 69:22-28
; Rom. 2:20-21
-Our goal is to conquer evil, and this
is done by 'doing good'. However, it is appropriate to pray for a person
to be broken, humbled and brought low in order to see their evil destroyed,
we pray for the death of arrogance and self-sufficiency.
Matt. 7:1-5 ; Gal. 6:1 ; Jude 22-23 -Don't seek to destroy evil in others until you first seek to destroy evil in yourself. If someone slights or deceives you, then you imply that the same tendency to slight and to deceive is in you. We must live with the on-going work of removing our log without neglecting to remove the specks in the eyes of others. Thus, part of the answer to destroy evil is to do good by rebuking and restoring others after we judged ourselves.
Evil cannot comprehend goodness for goodness offers life and evil death. Goodness is a force of power that is designed to surprise, supplant, and shame evil ( Lu. 6:27-28 ). To hate others is to reveal the sin that is in our own hearts. To love godly one must hunger for restoration plus revoking revenge.
Change:
John 3:16
; Eph. 4:29
-We are to restore others as God has restored
us. God gave us what we needed and not what we deserved. Likewise, bold love
involves feeding those who have done us harm. To honor and worship God, and
give glory to Him is for us to respond and meet the needs of others as God
has done for us. We die to our own sense of revenge, to get beyond being
offended, in order to destroy the evil that is in the other and open the
way for godly responses and actions.
Lu. 6:27-28 ; Rom. 12:9-21 -Basically, you start doing 'good' simply by being thoughtful and kind, looking for ways to serve another, seeking ways to be of help to another in need. Love feels the pain of the offender's sin and ugliness. To think ill of the person is to be guilty of the same offense-taking care of self and neglecting the other.
Ps. 140:9-10
; Rom. 12:20-21
; Rom. 1:16
-It takes strength to love and it takes
grace of God to love tenderly. Giving love should be with a strength that
does not fear the loss of the relationship. Our enemy is anyone who intentionally
or unwittingly harms us for his gain. Doing good or heaping coals are means
to bring the offender to a point of shame, to surprise our enemy and invite
him to deal with his offense. Goodness exposes the nakedness and hunger of
the enemy, and offers clothing and food, it shames the enemy and then offers
the opportunity for restoration.