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Undeserved Kindness is Demanded


Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. (I Thessalonians 5:15).
      But...she started it...he deserved it...they're evil...you made me angry. We have a lot of ways to justify getting back at someone, or making them pay. We often claim we are seeking justice. Today's Scripture not only tells us it is wrong for us to do this, but it's wrong for us to stand by and let one another (each other) do it.
      This doesn't suggest that there should be no consequences for wrong doing. It demands that those consequences do not involve our doing wrong as well. As the old saying goes, two wrongs do not make a right. The rule applies not only to our "one anothers" but to everyone else as well. We are to make sure not only that we do not do this as individuals, but that those around us do not.
      This goes against human nature, of course. Everything in us tends to want vengeance for the wrongs done to us or to our society. It is natural to delight in that vengeance, but we are not called to be natural. We are called to love. We are called to be kind. We are called to be Christ-like.
         There are those who are too dangerous to be allowed freedom in our society. Some need to be prevented from coming here. Some need to be removed. For some, there may be a life sentence. For some, a death sentence. Within that reality, we are called to be kind. We are not free to rejoice harm that must be done to these people. "For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!" (Ezekiel 18:32)

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