Friday 16 December 2011

Vengeance.

Vengeance  is mine says the Lord....or does he?   The God loved and feared  in the Old Testament might have said it through the mouths of the prophets but the God of the New Testament tells us to turn the other cheek....and to love our enemies....
Vengeance is a dish  best eaten cold.....  I forget who said that but I'm sure one of you will tell me!
Taking your revenge on someone who has wronged you might be very satisfying in the short term  but these things have a habit of bouncing back often when you least expect it and most of us are not made for long term anger....for most of us, something happens we don't like or are hurt by. We live with it for a little while and then shrug it off. To keep a hurt going for a long time requires stamina and a stubborn conviction of your own rightness.  But it is very self destructive.
Most human beings halt at the  point of hurting them selves.....there is a sort of emergency button buried in our genes which says  STOP when we are  starting to hurt ourselves.
In my daughter this button was missing.....she had no sense of personal danger at all.  But for her being utterly fearless was a bad thing not a good thing....
I have met one or two other people in life for whom  the button  also seems to be missing...
Its very sad when you see people hurtling headlong into  a course of action that will ultimately cause their destruction...
Revenge is I imagine satisfying on a short term basis but over a long period of time will result in the disintegration of personality which in  some is all too apparent.
In this period of goodwill and joyful anticipation of things to come...it would be great to be able to resolve all difficulties, and to actually love each other as He has loved us....
Also in our genes is the need to be happy, to be content and to be fulfilled....harming other people is never going to do that for us...
Sorry for preaching.....Amen

1 comment:

Kathryn de Belle said...

I remember reading Matthew 5 38-48 in The Message, and it really shocked me, even though it is such a familiar passage.

This blog had a similar effect, because I wasn't expecting it.

Good!