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Revenge Is Not SweetReverend Jack Howell

The world has this prevailing mentality that revenge is sweet. Every day we

read about killing taking place out of revenge. We read of ex-boyfriends ,ex-girlfriends, ex-spouses getting revenge for a perceived or actual wrong

done to them. Even Hollywood promotes this idea of sweet revenge in its

movies. We see conniving men and women plotting their revenge in the

daytime soap operas. According to the scriptures, we find that the early

church had a problem with Christians seeking revenge on others who did

them wrong and this had to be addressed in order to preserve the peace in the

congregation as well as its witness for Christ. Let me tell you something

brethren, revenge is anything BUT sweet. It effects everyone associated with

you, including your friends and loved ones. The desire for revenge can eat atyou like a canker worm or cancer and you can become so obsessed with the

desire for revenge that nothing else matters to you, including your walk with

God. The desire for revenge is self-destructive. In fact, an ancient proverb

from China I believe that addresses the desire for revenge says that if you

are seeking revenge against someone, you had better dig a grave for yourself

as well, pointing out the destructive nature of the desire for revenge. In

addressing the church at Rome the apostle Paul spoke about revenge and

pointed them to the Word of God. We read at Romans 12:9 from the New

Living Translation: Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the

righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, 'I will take revenge; I willpay them back,' says the Lord.Now, you may be asking, what scriptures

is the apostle Paul referring to in this verse? He is referring to Leviticus

19:18 which reads in the New Living Translation, Do not seek revenge or

bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as

yourself. I am the LORD.and Deuteronomy 32:35 which again in the New

Living Translation read, I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due

time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny

will overtake them.

Now, what these scriptures are telling me, and I believe this is the point Paulwas trying to get across to the Roman Christians is that we are not to seek

revenge on a fellow Christian or even a non-Christian who may have

wronged us. Rather, we are to leave it in God's hands and continue to show

Christ's love to them, rather than let the desire for revenge eat at us and

cause us to damage our testimony for Christ. Now that we have seen what

God's inspired, written Word has to say on the matter of revenge, any

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seeking of revenge against another is disobedience to God and is therefore

sin and opens the door to more sin and disobedience in our life. We need to

examine ourselves and ask ourselves if getting revenge on someone is more

important than our relationship with God? We need to ask ourselves if

getting revenge is worth damaging our testimony for Christ? Is it worth

hurting our relationship with others? Is God more important to us than

getting back at someone? The Christian who desires to please God is going

to put God first and foremost in his or her life and not seek to hurt that

relationship with Him by disobeying him. I hope that this short message has

given you something to think about today.