Skip to main content

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)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more