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Be The Blessing March 16, 2013
March 16, 2013
By Tina Chandler
He’ll get what’s coming to him! You will never get ahead if all you do is get even. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Throw the book at him!
Some common phrases on revenge – but why do we seek revenge? Does human nature drive us to want others to pay for what they’ve done? Do we fear punishment for what we’ve done? Think about something you did in your life, something that wasn’t quite right. Maybe you took $$ from a friend, just a few $$, and didn’t pay it back, but still. Maybe you lashed out in anger before you had all the facts. Have you ever jumped to a conclusion and placed blame on someone innocent? Maybe you’ve been on the receiving end of an unwarranted tirade. What if the anger was justified? I think we’ve all been the receivers and the givers of anger, upset, disappointment and hurt.
Forgiveness is the ultimate revenge. Or so it’s been said. What do you think? Forgiveness does not mean you overlook the wrong, or that you pretend it never happened. Forgiveness means that you don’t hold a grudge, that you let go of the hurt before it consumes you. Yes, there will be consequences for doing the wrong things.
If you break the law, there should be repercussions – paying a fine, spending time in custody – civilized society rules. Our society seems unjust sometimes, but it’s still one of the best in human history. What I’m really talking about is the intimate betrayals we all experience throughout our lives. Our 1st love breaks up with us on prom night.
We find out that our best friend has been secretly dating our boyfriend. We hear the gossip around the office that is about US. We discover that our child has been drinking. Someone smears us just to focus attention away from them.
Absolutely make the truth known, graciously. Absolutely defend your character, graciously. Absolutely hold your temper, graciously. Absolutely forgive, mercifully.
Colossians 3:12-13 (New American Standard Bible) So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Forgiveness, our chance to Be the Blessing.
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If a person is treated wrongly by another, and they wear their pain for all to see they are like the person with muddy hands.It taints all they do, and others will not want to be around them. If that person stays angry at the person that wronged them, and dreams of revenge, they are like the person infected with a virus, it will burn hotter and hotter and spread, if not fought and killed. Others who come in contact with them may be infected with rage and resentment, as misery loves company.
Perhaps when we recognize that we have become angry at what someone said or did to us, we get the mud on your hands. If we adress ait and actively rid our self of the pain, we clenas ourselves. If we forgive rather than wallow in anger and resentment, we our fighting off the infestation of resentment and halt the inreasing preoccupation with revenge, before it consumes us or infects others.
So don't ask "am I ready to forgive that no good so and so, and and forget what that they did to me?" It might take too long,waiting until they deserve to be let off the hook. But rather ask yourself "Did I get dirty fromwhat took place? Do I want to cleanse this off before it infects me anymore, and makes me somone other will not want and maybe should not be around"