Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary; repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
As children of God and followers of Christ, we have the job to go against the grain. This world believes in returning an injury for injury and getting revenge over someone who deserves it. When someone hurts us or insults us, we want to do it right back to them.
I am currently working in a new job and though I love what I do, the people aren't as nice. Lately, I've been telling God that I feel bitter towards certain people at work and even towards certain family members and I want to treat them the same way they treat me. Some days I even find myself toying with the idea of just not helping them and letting them get swamped with THEIR work. However, God's been telling me that's not the way I should act towards my adversaries. They don't know Christ so they don't know how to treat other people or even each other. If I play into their games, I'll misrepresent Christ and people won't want to know God because of how I act towards them. Also, it's not right to hate others and hold grudges against them when Christ did not do that to me.
This reminds me of the adulterous woman: When the people wanted to stone her because of her infidelity; Jesus told them "Whoever has never sinned, throw the first stone." but He knew everyone besides him sinned and the crowd knew it too. So when they first examined themselves, no one threw a stone. They left and when Christ, the only one who COULD throw a stone, approached the woman - He gave her grace, not condemnation.
As Christ followers, we are called to mirror that.
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At His Feet
SpiritualLately we can all get a little like Martha: we worry a lot and strive to reach that scale of perfection. It wears us down and saps the joy out of our hearts. Times like that, I know I need to be like Mary Magdalene, who sat at Jesus feet and let His...
