REPAY NO ONE EVIL FOR EVIL

There are no good or bad emotion, what makes them either good or bad is the way that they are used. That is especially true in the case of anger. Anger can save our life in time of crisis but if left unchecked, it can also bring a world of misery.

Anger usually happens when a person feels not in complete control or situation. The feeling of anger kicks in an effort to meeting personal resources that would otherwise not be available. In other words, anger is produced by a feeling of weakness and not by a feeling of strength. Sadly, that is not how it is sometimes perceived.

In some circles, the tendency to get angry is viewed as a sign of character, strength and power. Nothing could be further from the truth. Strong people are not disposed to anger because they are very rarely in situations where they see themselves helpless so there is no need for anger. Most mature people will see anger as a sign of personal weakness therefore will try to avoid it at all cost.

It should also be noted that anger robs a person of a great portion of the ability to think clearly and rationally. It is also well known that the angrier a person becomes, the more irrational will be the behaviour.

There is a desire deep within each of us to dominate, to defeat other men and women, to use them as means for achieving our own selfish purposes and this selfish desire gives birth to anger and revenge. In the face of selfish desire, what comes immediately to our mind is to destroy the one who is the obstacle in getting his selfish desire fulfilled. Take example from our daily life and living, if we have a problem with pests, we kill them; and when we have problems with dogs, we kill them too. 


Such an attitude also prevails when we deal with difficult people in our lives.  When someone stands in our way of getting what we want, or is a challenge to live with, we seek to remove that person from our lives.  Indeed, that is how most people react to evil or inconveniences in their lives.  We adopt an apocalyptic mentality of solving problems by destruction. That is what Pharisees did with Jesus and hung him on the cross to fulfill their selfish desires.

We are all set to hurt people like we were hurt. We talk about getting even, and settling the score. The idea is that because they hurt us we now owe them some hurt in return. And that is one debt we are only too glad to settle. In fact, usually it is not enough to “get even”. We usually want to add just a little more. Like playing poker: I see your insult and I raise you a poke in the eye! I see your humiliation and I am happy about it. Sometimes we go to that extent persuading a person where he desires to end his life by committing suicide due to constant humiliation and harassment, and we are happy about that.

We do not look into ourselves that how stupid we had been in the past and how we hurt and abused so many innocent people and superiors who made our life and raised our dignity to such an extend where we enjoy saying I am not a riff-raff.

We read Bible and reflect every day where it is written, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honourable in the sight of all”. Live peaceably with all. Remember the words of Jesus, “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.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21)

We are to answer evil with good. Everybody understands tit for tat. That is the way the world works. But they have a really hard time with paying back evil with good. It makes their conscience burn. It drives them to rethink their approach because it is not producing what they expected. That is the way to overcome evil. Not by fighting it. Not by punishing it.

 Not by stamping it out. But by overpowering it with kindness and generosity until it can no longer breathe. Remember, we hurt ourselves by hating others. Hating people is like burning down our own house to get rid of a rat. The fire of hate compressed within our heart would soon burn fiercer and burst into flames consuming not only our own selves but also consuming the world. Some say that the world will end in fire, others say in ice, but after knowing what hate has done so far between races, nations and communities, we can also say that the world could end by hate.

We hurt ourselves by contemplating on revenge because, by doing so, we keep our wounds green which otherwise could heal. In any case, can blood be washed with blood and can injury repair injury? Of course, it is human to strive to get even with an enemy, but it is Christian to forgive, for we are all children of God who loves both the good and the bad without any discrimination. Jesus always practiced what he preached and taught us, and this is true also of his call that we love our enemies.

Once a sparrow fell in love with a white rose, but the rose said to the bird, "Unless I am turned into red, I will not be able to love you". The sparrow, now lost in deep thought, wondered and searched hard for means to turn the white rose into red. At dawn the next day, the sparrow was struck with the bright idea of pricking itself with a thorn and letting its blood flow on the rose. Having accomplished its loving task, when the rose had turned red, the sparrow breathed its last, nestling close to the rose. This is how Jesus loved us, shedding his blood for his enemies.

Hence, love even our enemies, not because it will drive the enemy nuts, but because those who deserve love least, need it most. Hate not our enemies, life is too short for hate; and think of no revenge, and if we want to take any revenge at all, remember that the noblest revenge is to forgive. Don’t do evil just because someone did evil to us. They did the wrong thing. We do the right thing.  That is exactly what Jesus is asking us to do.

Remember, anger is like a match stick which has a head but not a brain which can burn the entire forest in no time. Let us be like an ice and cotton which is cold and soft. A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger (Prov 15:1). In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent (Ps 4:4). It is to a man's honour to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel (Prov 20:3). Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.(Ps 37:8) Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare(Prov.22:24-25).

The power to forgive is one of the greatest powers given to us. It is part of the nature and essence of God, and when we exercise it we assume godlike stature. We have the power to forgive and thus rise above the pettiness of souls. Choosing to forgive another is one of the hardest things most people ever do because it is not human nature. Human nature cries out for revenge and retribution. But why get stuck in human nature?

Jesus came to bring forgiveness and salvation from sin, but He also came to save us from human nature. When we received Him as our Savior, we received a measure of His superhuman nature. Since one of the most outstanding traits of His nature is a readiness to forgive, how quick we are to forgive others is a pretty good indication of whether or not we are letting His superhuman nature take charge.

Whether that person who wronged us deserves forgiveness or not is not the central issue. The central issue is we doing the right thing. No one really deserves forgiveness. If others have done wrong, they deserve a just punishment. But forgiveness is greater than justice. Justice is human; forgiveness is divine. Forgive others who have wronged us, even as our heavenly Father forgives us.