Romans 12 Reflection
devotion ·Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 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. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” ~ Romans 12:17-20
It is interesting to observe human behavior. It seems to me that deep within the human conscience is the desire, the need for justice. Paul captures this sense in verses 17-20 of chapter 12. He starts with the idea, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil.”
We see an injustice. Or even worse a friend, or close relative have a wrong committed to them. We feel the need to correct the situation. Years ago, my wife had a wrong committed to her. I almost immediately began to plot and map out my plan to correct the situation. I explained my plan to a friend, a fellow ministry student in school with me. He quoted the above verse, “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. He told him that this will be one that God doesn’t have to worry about.
Eventually I gave up on justice on my terms. I realized that it was not good for my soul. I had to come to the place that I had to give the incident to God. It was much better for me and much better for my heart, mind, and conscience. As I think about it today, I am amazed at how quickly I went to figuring out justice on my terms. I nurtured feelings of being wronged of having to correct this violation against someone I love.
I would note that the phrase “justice on my terms” is the key. Justice on my terms is me playing god. That is not good, and it is never good when fallible, broken, and imperfect human beings play god. It never ends well. It can easily become a self-perpetuating cycle. I “correct” the injustice and wrong. Then the newly “corrected” individual feels wronged and seeks revenge. You get the idea.
Human beings suffer from a condition that I would call “excessive certainty.” That simply means that we think we know beyond a shadow of doubt that we are right. That we have all the necessary facts and anyone who disagrees with me is wrong and misinformed and possibly even has an evil agenda. The problem is that we know in part. We see partially through a glass darkly. And we don’t have all the facts. We often don’t see the rest of the story until too late. So for that reason I would recommend,
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Lord Jesus thank you for your justice, your mercy, and love and grace. Thank you that you did not enact justice in my life when I deserved it the most. Thank you for your patience with me. Help me to be patient with others. In Jesus name amen.