Should We Get Revenge?
Should we get revenge?
“Should I get revenge on so and so?” This might be a question you’ve been asking, and the simple answer is no. The reason why you shouldn’t is, think of it this way… no matter what sin you’ve committed, God will always forgive you and he never even thinks about getting revenge. So the next time you go to “plan your revenge” just remember the countless sins you’ve committed and how God has/ will never plan on getting revenge
What is revenge?
“To inflict pain or injury in return for an injury received.” is how the KJV Dictionary defines the word “revenge” ( REVENGE - Definition from the KJV Dictionary ). This could be physical, emotional, or mental pain or injury. So whenever the Bible says that we should “Bless them that curse you [ KJV Dictionary also defineds “curse” as “To utter a wish of evil against one; to imprecate evil upon; to call for mischief or injury to fall upon; to execrate”], and pray for them that despitefully use you.” (Luke 6:28), it means that we shouldn’t “inflict pain or injury in return” to the person who hurt you. If you did go through with the revenge it wouldn’t be blessing the other person and that’s not how you pray for them either. The way I (McKenzie) learn best is by using “stories” or a scenario as an example. So let's try to imagine ourselves back at school. We’re in a line with a few other classmates and you’ve been patiently waiting for a turn to get a sip of water at the water fountain. The person in front of you just got done and you go to take your turn when someone gets in front of you and starts drinking the water. You have two choices! You could yell “Hey, man I was here first!” and give him/her a push out of the way. OR you could keep your cool and just wait for this one more person to get a drink. Which would you do? Our Wednesday night teacher gave us this scenario about a year or two ago. As much as I love her, I was definitely siding with the first example! “I wouldn’t let a kid push me around! That brat needs to re-recognize!”, but if I didn’t want a kid to “push me around” I could calmly say something to him/her. If this kid has done multiple things to you and/or others, we have teachers and people around us working in a school for a reason. So, no, don’t let people bully you, but don’t “take matters in your own hands” and go against God’s word. You may not be hurting this kid by going alone with the first example, but Romans 12:17 says “Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.” (KJV). By doing evil against someone, you are still hurting them.
What does God say about getting revenge?
You might be wondering what the Bible says about getting revenge, and that is what this section is for. The book of Matthew states, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” (Matthew 5:44 KJV) That is easier said than done, even for people who have been Christians for majority of their lives. No one is ever going to be a “perfect Christian.” That is why the Lord gave us His word, so that we can learn how to become better Christians. Satan will continuously try to deceive us into longing for revenge on others. Another verse that tells us what God says about getting revenge is Romans 12:18. This verse says,”If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” Jesus knows that this will be very difficult for our sinful, human nature. This is why He states, “...as much as lieth in you... “ He knows that Satan is going to tempt us to the best of his ability. This is why He died on the cross for our sins. (If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, please read our blog post, “Stop Thinking of Death as the End!” or email or message us if you have any questions!
Revenge isn’t getting even!
Whenever we get revenge on people, we tend to feel like we are getting even with them. If Sally tells Joey that Kelly has a crush on him, then Kelly is only obligated to tell Bobby that Sally has a crush on him. Kelly feels like now that she and Sally are “even” they can go back to being friends and now she can forgive her. If you haven’t read our blog “Forgiveness”, then we encourage you to read that after this one. But in that blog post, we talk about how we should forgive people whenever they do wrongs against us. So rather than waiting until we are “healed”, we need to forgive others right then. If you already read the blog then you may be getting excited and thinking “Yeah, well y’all (if you’re a southerner)/ you guys (if you’re a yankee ;) ) said that forgiving isn’t forgetting! “Bob”/”Bobelina” needs consequences for what he/she did to me!” While they need consequences, are you the one put in place to enforce the consequence? And consequences and revenge are two very different things (as you will learn in the next section!). We think that now that we've hurt the other person back we are on top again. We’re above the person who originally hurt us, or at least “at their level again”. I love that God has given me (McKenzie) so many Godly people to look up to! One person I admire very much is my online Bible teacher, Mr. Kopp. He did a lesson on revenge, and I just had to share some things that he said with y’all! “When we get back or get even, we think we’re getting ahead, right? We think we’re getting on top or scoring more against that person, then that person scored against us. But when we, so to speak, get even with somebody, we’re not winning. We’re not coming out on top. What’s happening is that we’re actually getting, not even, but lower. When we do such foolish things as try to embarrass somebody worse than he’s embarrassed us. We’re digging a deeper hole of shame for ourselves then the hole of embarrassment or harm then that person tried to put us in. So getting even? What do you think? No. Getting lower? Yes.” I could go on quoting Mr. Kopp, but I know that would be too long so I'll just sum up everything else he said. He goes on to talk about how we get deceived by thinking we are winning. Our sinful flesh feels like we are winning, but in reality we are digging our hole of shame deeper and deeper. Hurting other people doesn’t bring us to the top, but pushes us down lower.
Are consequences the same as revenge?
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, revenge is defined as, “to avenge (oneself or another) usually by retaliating in kind or degree.” According to Google Dictionary, consequence means, “a result or effect of an action or condition.” Like you might be, when I (Natalee) first started writing this section, I was very confused about the difference between these two words. After doing lots of Biblical and online research about these words, I found that these words do have two completely different meanings. Let’s start with the first word: revenge. In my own words, this means getting back at someone out of spite because they did something to hurt you. To me, revenge is hurting someone because they hurt you. God calls His people to forgive, not get revenge. Now, let’s move on to our second word: consequences. To me, this word means something that happens due to a situation that you are in. If you don’t understand what I’m saying, here is an example. Someone in your class falls asleep everyday during class, and your teacher decides to give him detention. This is a consequence for the student’s choices, rather than the teacher getting revenge on him. This is the same principle when people go to Hell. This is the consequence of our sins. Jesus doesn’t send people to hell because they wronged Him. In fact, He doesn’t want His children to go to Hell. That is why He chose to die on the cross and pay for our sins.
What to do instead of getting revenge?
Instead of planning your revenge against someone, how about instead you pray about it. I don’t mean just say a little prayer I mean actually telling God about how you’re feeling. Tell him how much it’s upsetting you and how you just want to forgive that person and move on. I promise that if you pray and ask for Jesus’ help, he will help you get through it much easier and quicker than if you were to try and get revenge against that person.
We hope this blog has answered all of your questions about revenge, and we hope you enjoyed reading:)