Don’t Retaliate - January 19

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:15 

See that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to

everyone. 

Reflect 

When someone sins against you, what is your first instinct? Do you generally act on that instinct or do something else? 

Anyone who has ever been around children has heard this line: “They did it to me first!” A child who gets hit usually hits back. If one toddler takes another toddler’s toy, the other toddler usually fights back. If one teenager spreads malicious gossip about another teenager, the other teenager often starts their own vindictive rumor. On and on it goes.  

You’d hope that by the time we are adults, we’d all grow out of it. Sadly, that is often not the case. No matter how many times we’ve been told that “two wrongs don’t make a right” we still feel this need to retaliate when someone wrongs us. “That will teach them to mess with us” we think to ourselves. But does it?  

Then, of course, there is also the problem about when the vicious revenge cycle stops. At what point do we consider justice to have been served by our vengefulness? If you’ve ever studied the famous family feud of the Hatfields and the McCoys, then you know that revenge and retaliation often lead to unimaginable tragedy and heartbreak far and above the original offense.  

In today’s verse, the apostle Paul continued to give his final instructions to the believers in Thessalonica. After just telling them to be patient with each other (1 Thessalonians 5:14), Paul commanded them to refrain from retaliation but seek to do good to each other and to everyone.  

This is a hard teaching, isn't it? After all, our gut reaction to being wronged is often to pay them back. Here’s the thing, though. Who are we to mete out justice? Are we perfectly righteous ourselves? Have we never sinned? Have we never wronged someone or offended someone? The reality is, if we want everyone to get what they deserve, then we have to include ourselves.  

We all have sinned, we’ve all done wrong, and we all deserve to die for it (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23). None of us are righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10-12). But in His infinite mercy and grace, God did not give us what we deserved. He gave us forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ.  

Psalm 103:10-12 says: “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” 

Because He has offered us this gift of mercy and forgiveness, how should we respond when we are sinned against? Paul answered that question in another letter he wrote to the church in Ephesus: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).  

We have been forgiven much, so we also ought to forgive. Yes, it’s hard, especially when there seems to be little or no remorse. Especially when the action was pure evil. In those circumstances, we can trust in the One who is a perfectly righteous judge. Ultimately, He will be the One to repay everyone according to their deeds (Romans 2:6). “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’” (Romans 12:19). 

Respond  

Lord, thank You for Your mercy and Your grace. I know that I do not deserve Your forgiveness but that in Christ, I have received it. Help me to extend the same mercy and forgiveness to those who wrong and offend me. Help me to rest in the fact that You are the only Righteous Judge. You are the only One qualified to do the job and You will repay unrepentant evil. Ultimately, I can trust that justice will be served. Amen. 

Reveal 

Is there a hurt in your life that you need to let go of and trust God to deal with? Is there someone you need to forgive or apologize to? Seek to make it right between you today.