About stopping revenge…
Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath,
for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the
Lord. 20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is
thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals
on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
(NIV)
On a personal level, revenge is the desire to get even. Revenge is the
personal desire to attack back when we have been personally attacked. Revenge is
the personal desire to even the score when we have been hurt. In order to deal
with our need to get revenge rather than letting revenge deal with us, we must
be honest and admit we want revenge. We must be honest before God about wanting
revenge because revenge is a tool of Satan. In every waking moment, if we do not
confront Satan, then Satan will weasel his way into our heart, mind, and soul.
When we let Satan have his way with us, we will take action to get our personal
pound of flesh by trying to get revenge. When we want personal revenge, we must
take a proactive stance against it. Giving to those who hurt you is the way to
stop the desire for personal revenge. We call this action of giving to those who
hurt you, "forgiveness." When you want revenge, giving to those who
hurt you seems to be pure lunacy. When you want revenge, giving to those who
hurt you seems to be the utmost foolishness. However, it is better to be a fool
and do the Lord's will than to be seemingly wise and do Satan's will by exacting
our revenge when we are personally hurt. Stopping revenge begins with you.
Stopping revenge begins when you give to those who take from you. It is hard to
give to those who take from you. Sometimes it seems it is impossible to give to
those who take from you. Sometimes we cannot give back to those who hurt us
because giving back would result in others being hurt even more. However, with
God, all things are possible in every sphere of life. With God, it is possible
to stop revenge by giving back to those who hurt you. With God, it is possible
to love your enemy. In our quiet moments when love and hate collide within us,
we must push our heart, mind, and soul upward toward God. When love and hate
collide within us and we do what hate wants us to do, we will be pulled down
into the fire of hell with Satan. Even when it seems we are overwhelmed with the
passion to personally get even, we have a choice. When we say or think our
revenge is the only choice, then the dark powers own us. The dark powers of the
world want us to seek revenge. The dark powers of the world have come to destroy
us by letting our own darkness eat away at us until all light and love in us is
gone. However, Christ came to give us the light and hope of His love. Christ
came to give us forgiveness. Christ came and told us to forgive our enemies.
