Thank You, Father, for a somewhat unexpected day with family! A snow day is always a pleasure, whatever we get into! I am grateful for Your watchcare over us!
1 Peter 3:9 (<<click here to read the passage)
Lord, it is certainly no newsflash but sin continues to drive our world, we cultivate the mindset of “it’s all about me.” We are all over getting what “belongs” to us – freebies, rewards, handouts, etc. we are just as bad at lashing out. Retaliation is the name of this game and we are obsessed with getting “even” – you hurt me, I hurt you. And if I can one-up you, hurting you more than you hurt me, so much the better.
Crazily, enough Your Word even gets drug into the fray. How many times have I heard, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”? (Leviticus 24:20) It is frequently used to justify getting revenge on others who have harmed us in some way. It’s easy for us to pull it out of context, where in actuality it was a part of Old Testament Law that was put in place to limit retaliation. You knew it was a propensity of ours, so You put into place a word to hold us back from our anger.
This may be the way of the world, but it sure isn’t Your way, Lord. Peter states Your truth when he writes, as recorded in the first part of verse 9,
“…never return evil for evil or insult for insult [avoid scolding, berating, and any kind of abuse]…” AMP
We live in an upside-down world and for many of us, it is extremely difficult to pull away from the multigenerational habit of retaliation – it’s how we’ve been raised! Every single one of us has roots, going way back, in lashing out and getting even. Sin is at the root of it all and has been there from the time sin entered the world.
Cain took his anger out on Abel even though Abel had done nothing wrong. Cain wasn’t happy that his sacrifice had been rejected by God, but Abel’s had been accepted. His anger was expressed in retaliation and his retaliation was murder. “God, You reject mine? Fine…You’ll not have his either!” (Genesis 4:1-8)
Retaliation is acted out every day. It’s all around us, from conflicts in the Middle East going back millennia to the driver flipping you off because of some driving infraction on your part. And retaliation takes us – all of us – nowhere but down.
Lord, as Your followers, we’ve got to put a stop to it – not doing so just continues to fuel the fire. We’ve got to stop paying back “evil for evil” and “insult for insult”. And believe it or not, that’s the easy part!
The hard part?
…but on the contrary, give a blessing [pray for one another’s well-being, contentment, and protection]; for you have been called for this very purpose…v9b AMP
Lord, help us! Lord, help me… As You are, Lord, may I be…a lover not a hater. Help me be a giver and not a taker. Amen
(Note: Any Scripture that is in bolded type can be clicked on to read the passage.)
(Jan 3rd, 2017. Tues, 6:04 am)
Jan 23rd, 2023, Mon, 7:14 pm
