In Romans 12:17-19 Paul reminds us: "Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath....."
We all have "enemies." Some are just quasi-enemies....you just have a hunch that they really don't like you, so you return the favor and you just choose to not like them. Others are really all- out enemies. They did something spiteful and are simply mean-spirited toward you. What in the world are we supposed to do with these folks? Want to waste a tremendous amount of energy and have the life sucked out of you? Then, fight back, take revenge, repay evil for evil, don't give one inch in making sure they know that you can't stand them. However, there is another way....leave room for God's wrath. Want to free up a huge load on you emotionally?....try the biblical remedy for enemies....let the Lord have at 'em.
Funny thing, Mark and I talked about this very thing last night and decided we were just going to ignore the pettiness and meanness of some folks and treat them with kindness and love. We really do not want to waste our energy trying to placate, argue with or referee between these folks, so we are going to say hello with genuine smiles and sincerely ask how they are doing.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that will drive them nuts.