“Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,
“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.
Instead,
“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”
Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” Romans 12:19-21
As a fan of the TV show, “Law and Order”, I often watch the show with a sense of expectation. In 60 minutes, I expect the one who commits the crime to be captured and swiftly brought in to answer for the misdeed. And before the credits roll, a judge should sentence said criminal to an appropriate amount of time behind bars. I expect justice to be done and all those that were offended against to be given a sense of closure.
But that’s just a TV show and oftentimes things don’t work that way. We hear of or experience wrongs that aren’t made right... and we cry out for justice. But if we’re not careful... what we find is that we’re not really looking for fairness...we just want to see things made even. It’s called revenge. And it isn’t ours to pursue. Scripture tells us in Romans 12 that making things right is God’s role. He is ultimately the One that settles the matter. He rights the wrongs... punishes the wicked... and is the only worthy judge. If you find yourself angry that the scales of justice seem broken... don’t worry... God’s got this... and His verdict is both perfect and eternal.
