But is revenge and anger really all that it's cracked up to be? I would suggest - NO. There are really at least three very negative aspects of anger and revenge:
- Physical ramifications - Doctors have stated for quite some time now that stress, anger and all of the negative emotional baggage that accompany them can drastically impact your health. The effects can range from depression to headaches and even heart attack causing High Blood Pressure!
- Driven by Anger - When we are out for revenge - anger becomes our driving force. No matter what we do, anger is the reason we do it. We're always thinking of how to get back or get even or even one-up the other person. When we are driven by anger we get sloppy and make mistakes that can hurt us or others. Anger should never be a driving force. In the words of the wise Jedi Knights on Star Wars - don't follow your feelings. We can't be driven by our anger - it only leads to the dark side...
- Breaks Relationships - Even the relationships that have nothing to do with your anger bear the brunt of your hatred when you bring your desire for revenge and retribution home with you. It causes distance in the only healthy parts of one's life.
The long and short of this is that anger and revenge are not the answer. The bible encourages us to love even those we would rather hate. Love them the way Jesus did. Not a sissy kind of love but a love that is willing to do what the world says is impossible. A love that just wants them to know Jesus and His forgiveness. If Yoda were to talk to you about God's forgiveness it would sound something like this: Forgiven you are...forgiveness you should give.
May the real force (the Holy Spirit) be with you!
1 comment:
I think there is a lot of revenge in society today because we are so used to getting what we pay for from every relationship or transaction. Put good in get good back. Put bad in get bad out. When someone does something bad to us we want to "pay" for it so they know the transaction is complete.
Yesterday I talked to a neighbor who is going throgh a divorce. I could tell that it was bothering him because he kept trying to change the subject away from it but he also kept brining it back up. It seemed to tint his whole view of everything. He thought that his thirty year marrige was turned into a fight over money. So that was all that anyone cares about. The government, the neighbors, the corporations, me, his boss, even his church is in a capital fund drive, everyone in his life seemed to just want his money but not him.
He was given a bad thing and wanted to repay with a bad thing. What he thought was love wasn't, so he could not see love anywhere.
I am glad that God doesn't work that way. If He did I would be in a lot of trouble. What is hard to understand is that the transaction that He makes with us is not an even transaction that we are used to. We turn our back on His laws and He always takes us back when we ask Him to... when we really don't deserve it.
Please pray for my neibor and his hurting family, also pray for me to find the words to help him find love that works, love from Christ
Post a Comment