Leave Evil Alone!

”Never pay back evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, "I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it," says the Lord.”

Romans 12:17-19 NLT

Today’s message:

On a positive note…Or, do you think this is a negative presentation? I agree, some might view it as negative, but think about it.

If you were to leave vengeance alone, not pay back evil for evil, you move on, you leave ‘wickedness’ alone for someone else to deal with and someone by the way far more capable of a just resolution than any vigilante spirit we may possess.

Is it human to want to get even? Absolutely

Is it superhuman to bless our enemy, really bless them? Not just mouth the words, maybe? Even if we mouth the words and believe them often enough they will become our hymn and eventually, a rewarding habit.

The angst we carry with us when we bear someone ill takes far more out of us than it will ever take out of the person deserving of God’s Wrath. If we can only accept that God is in a far better position to ‘see’ everything and ‘know’ everything then we will find that HIS justice is easily our justice and it is good to wait on HIM.

In the greatest evil ever perpetrated imagine the sense of righteous indignation God could have possessed -- yet HE turned that awful event in HIS life into a full blown blessing for all mankind! To many, having your son brutalized, tortured, humiliated in full public view and then murdered is the worst thing they could ever imagine and surely an event that would warrant vengeance, retribution, JUSTICE! Frankly, it is quite normal to feel all of those feelings. But, as God moved differently in the case of HIS own son’s heinous death we will eventually fare better if we were to leave the kind of Justice ONLY GOD could mete out to God. This is an extreme analogy of course, the day to day injustices rarely meet this sort of intensity, and for that we need give thanks to God! But, as in all things, to train to do your best for any trial or event, you need to build up your stamina and your arsenal of coping mechanisms by smaller contests, which is where the rising above the day to day battles for which you may want justice and letting God be the JUDGE of all builds the endurance necessary, God forbid, there should be something of the magnitude of above to deal with.

Who is not familiar with our Lord’s words in Luke 6: “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:.”

While it is truly a struggle to hold back the strong emotions attendant to injustice if we truly believe in God, truly believe in salvation through HIS Son, we will then understand as a child of God, ‘Father knows best!’

Today’s homework, no matter the injustice, be it directly related to you, or something you hear or see that emboldens your sense of injustice, please, PRAY about it; leave the injustice for God to correct!

Reflect on HIS manifold attributes, like for instance, Wonderful, Marvelous, Glorious, Righteous and Just. Let those wash through your spirit and soul as fresh waters replacing the injustice with faith and patience and joy in God. May God’s Peace be with you!