Romans 12:17-19, The Message - Don’t hit back;
discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.
Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,”
says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
The goal of forgiveness is healing
and freedom – for you and for your relationships. We keep repeating this because it’s important
to keep in mind when you are working the forgiveness process. If the benefits of healing and freedom for you
is the goal, then it makes sense that doing things that do not promote healing
and freedom would be counterproductive.
This is why revenge/payback never accomplishes the goal. Adding more hurt/punishment/negativity to the
equation pushes healing and freedom further away.
This is why God instructs us, “I’ll
take care of that.” God wants our
healing and freedom as well, so God pleads with us to not self-sabotage the
forgiveness process with revenge. Instead,
God instructs us to replace those vengeful fantasies and actions with actions
that promote healing and freedom. Look
for beauty in the other, which we talked about last week when we discussed
rediscovering the humanity/commonality of the offender. Work on making peace with the offender and
promoting peace in your own heart. Leave
judgement and justice, which are God activities to God.
Questions: What do
you want more of in your heart and your relationships? What would it look like
for you to do more of that and less of what you don’t want in your heart and
relationships?
Prayer: Lord, show me the current state of my heart. Where there is negativity and hopes for revenge,
help me replace them with thoughts and actions that promote peace, healing, and
freedom. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for the victims and families of the multiple acts of mass violence in our
country in the last week.
Video: Instead of a
song today, I’m sharing a video about looking at the content of our heart. I hope you are helped by it as I was.
What Is A Heart At War? - Wilderness Therapy at Anasazi
Foundation
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