Give God Your Revenge

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” – Romans 12:19

This is a crucial promise in overcoming our bent toward bitterness and revenge. And the reason is bitterness and revenge are powerful impulses behind anger becomes impulse that that are not entirely wrong,

In many cases, wrongs have been done to us. But, it is now entirely wrong to feel that justice should be done. What’s wrong is to feel that we must make it happen and that we may feel bitter until it does.

The big mistake is staying bitter and having unforgiveness in your heart. I held on to the bitterness and unforgiveness for many years, too many years. I tell you from experience, the only person who is suffering is you. Bitterness and unforgiveness only kill those who keep it inside.

There are biblical commands and warnings concerning an unforgiving spirit

• Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgavr you. Ephesians 4:32
• If you do more forgive others…neither will your Father forgive your trespasses -Matthew 6:15

When we don’t forgive others our souls are in danger.

The grace of God’s judgment is promised to us in Romans 12 which helps us overcome such a deadly spirit of revenge and bitterness.

The Apostle Paul’s argument is that we can be sure that all wrongs will be dealt with by God and that we can leave the matter in His hands because vengeance belongs to the Lord. To motivate us to lay down our vengeful desires He give us a promise: “I will repay, says the Lord.”

The promise that frees us from an unforgiving, bitter, vengeful spirit is the promise that God will settle our accounts. He will do it more justly and more mercifully than we ever could. He punishes all sin. Nobody gets away with anything. He promises it either in Jesus on the cross for those who repent and trust Him, or in hell for those who don’t. There, we can back off and leave room for God to do His perfect work.

This is something I wish I had known years ago. Bitterness and unforgiveness plagued my soul. I was slowly poisoning myself for someone else’s wrong doing.