Dearly Beloved
Dearly Beloved
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Romans 12:19
Now that I have your attention. It’s not coincidental when a devotional yields a devotional.
In doing my daily devotion I came across a page that simply had Romans 12 on it. Not a verse, the entire chapter.
So as the Holy Spirit inclined, I read through it and began looking at the sentences intently. When I arrived at the point I’m going to make.
“Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
Romans 12:17-18
You see, Romans 12 is an outline for our Christian responsibility in mankind. It’s our treatment of others. It’s giving others what has been given to us. It’s what to do with how we’ve been forgiven.
And when I get to verses 17-21, this is where I struggle.
I’ve never been confrontational, albeit direct, but never a bully. I stood up for things I believed in, but never outwardly showed aggression or anger. If someone hurt me, I shut them off. Like a switch. If someone wronged me, off went the switch. This is still vengeance, because actively not doing something, was still actively producing something.
I always figured as long as I wasn’t behaving badly, I was behaving just fine. I learned a behavior of disconnecting, not forgiveness.
But Romans 12 tells us that we must intentionally behave with forgiveness and grace instead of intentionally not behaving. It’s an act of active service. It’s commanded. It’s not a suggestion. It doesn’t say you should consider befriending your enemy and servicing their needs. It says we will.
I used to always say this, if you didn’t mean to do something, you didn’t mean not to do it. So as much as I’d like to argue that I was in the clear, clearly I’m not.
I would intentionally, on purpose, go out of my way to shut someone out. I paid back what I considered the penalty was for the behavior of someone else towards me. And it wasn’t my job to do that. By not doing something, I was doing something - and none of it was good to God.
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Romans 12:19
I love the way this verse starts out, “Dearly Beloved”. This chapter talks about how we are to behave better, not worse and it is directed at us, as if to say - Dear You That Are Loved by Him.
We are to extend grace and forgiveness because it has been given to us - more than we deserve. We are to love, abhor evil, cleave to goodness, be kind and honor each other. All this because we are loved, by Him, even though we sin.
We aren’t to decide whether grace is deserved. We don’t deserve it, yet God extends it all the time to us.
This isn’t to say that I will do all or any of this perfectly, but at least it’s at the front of my mind now, not the back. I struggle and fail daily and each day I make progress over the last. I’ve learned that each day I find another way to please God and another in which I’m not. Either way, I’d rather have my relationship with Him, then without.
Continue to grow your relationship with God through prayer and reading His Word. I’ve learned that when I put my trust and faith in Him, I am not letting Him down.
“Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:20-21