Seeking Revenge

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:18

We all have been hurt or mistreat by someone we know and at some point or another cared about. I am sure that your first reaction was to repay this person, for the hurt they caused you. We all have that fleshy urge and it is so easy to succumb to.  We see in this passage in Leviticus that we should love our neighbor as we love our self. Through my divorces and as a one time unwed pregnant mother I know from experience the hurt and the urge to repay someone for the wrong they did to me. I wanted so much to repay the men that hurt me, and in the end it was always me that ended up getting hurt.

           We consume ourselves with the hate we have for the person that hurt us. We are simply wasting precious time that we will never get back. The person who hurt is out living life happy and you are at home mad at him or her, thinking about what they have done to us. Just give the anger and the hurt to the Lord and love this person.  Jesus said we should pray for and love the ones who have hurt us (Matthew 5:44). When we pray for the ones that have hurt us the Lord changes our hearts and will heals us.  

Harboring unforgiveness and hatred is like a poison to your soul. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:14 and 15 that we should forgive others who have sinned against us, if we do not the Lord will not forgive us of our sins. I just do not feel like harboring that unforgiveness is worth risking your relationship with our heavenly Father.