"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD." Leviticus 19:18 (KJV)
Before I started studying my Bible, I used to think that the Lord would want me to get revenge... I thought it was "justice." I can't say I got my revenge, but I sure thought about it a lot. When I read the Bible finally, I saw that my ways were not the Lord's ways. We were made in the image of the Lord, and we do get some of His traits like a parent who loves their child has a trait of the Lord. But not all of our traits are from Him, we also naturally sin and we have to be able to distinguish the difference. Revenge isn't a business we should be in! Let the Lord avenge us, because He is able to judge righteously. He knows what needs to be done.
The best thing we can do is love. If somebody does us wrong and we still show love towards them, then that has the power to change them. Revenge on the other hand just continues a vicious cycle. Somebody punches you in the face, you punch them back, and they punch you again... The fight gets nastier and nastier, until one of you gets hurt seriously. Revenge gets you nowhere, except maybe to the hospital and in some cases the morgue. Gangs are all about revenge, you injure one of them and they kill one of yours. It's just not worth it, let the Lord take care of your enemies. You just need to love and pray for them. That may even sound cowardly to some, but what do we really have to prove? We are children of God, in the end we win... We don't need to prove anything except our faith. We can't prove our faith if we're consumed with revenge and hatred for another. I hope that this speaks to someone, because revenge is really a nasty business that we have no place in.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins as we forgive all those who've sinned against us. Help us to do your Will and not our own. Take all the hatred and desire for revenge out of our hearts. Help us to love as we should. In Jesus name. A-men!
