Revenge Is Not Sweet

Revenge Is Not Sweet Reverend 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 at you 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 will pay 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 Paul was 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

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.