A reflection on forgiveness and revenge, sewing and reaping.

I'm thinking a lot about forgiveness, lately. Forgiveness and revenge. Thinking of revenge, because it is futile. Futile because it does not serve any purpose. The hurtful act that caused you to want to exact revenge, is not undone. The hurt is still there, and then you get to feel guilty and foolish, because have now become just as guilty as the party on whom you wanted revenge. And, foolish because you now realize that you've gained nothing by your act of revenge and regenerated the hard feelings that you so want to lose.

Then there is the fact that if you are like me, a follower of Christ, revenge doesn't even belong to you. It is a right belonging only to God. Romans 12:19 (NIV) says, "Do not take revenge my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay, ' says the Lord." Christ on the cross, while they about to murder him, prayed,"Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34 - NIV). How can we dare take revenge on someone because they have hurt us in some way, and still call ourselves a follower (imitator) of Jesus?

A third point: Galatians 6:7 (NIV) says, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. After I became a Christian, some people were quite hateful to me, and it made me very angry and hurt. But after I calmed down, the gentle voice of the Spirit, reminded me that I had done spiteful and hateful things to these people. Lied, cheated and deceived them. That's when I learned that when you plant bad seed, even if afterward you have given your heart to the Lord, you still have to reap the harvest of those seeds in some way. God helps you through it, but even if you plow the harvest under, there will always be some plants that will survive and grow.  Eventually, the good seeds you are planting now will grow and thrive and life will get better.

Even if you are not a Christian, you find the principle of sewing and reaping is to be found in almost every existing religion.  Food for thought and reflection, my friends.

Love you all,

Vern