Resolution 14: Revenge...

14: Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.

Revenge. Its a word I associate with Shakespeare and thriller movies and shocking newspaper stories... not one I tend to think of as something I come across in my own life. We think of revenge on the BIG scale... the horror court cases, the gang crime...

But revenge on the small scale is just as poisonous... that bad word that was said about you... the person that put you down... the individual who hurt you in some way. Our instinct is revenge... its subtle. It's looking for the opportunity to make that other person look small, or the opportunity to try and make them jealous, or outdo them in some way. It may not seem a big deal, but it is revenge, and the big stuff that we see on the News surely started with the subtle little stuff we do daily in our own thought processes...

The Bible teaches that "vengeance", or revenge, is down to God. Only he can act to repay evil and injustice in a pure and just way. Our motivations are always tainted and flawed - his are not. He will call the injustice done in this world to account... the big stuff and the small. I am to seek justice for those around me, but I am to trust my heavenly Father when it comes to revenge...

Instead, we are to take Jesus as our example... he didn't seek revenge from those who took his life... who nailed him to that cross. Instead he offered them his free gift of life in all its fulness.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!