Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44). Loving one’s enemies is one of the hardest things for a person to do, because we have within us a sin nature that tells us to get revenge on those who do evil things to us. Our flesh tells us to get even, pay back evil with evil. But Scripture teaches us to love our enemies and do good for them.
Paul wrote, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:17-19). I do not believe that Paul is talking about civil government or war between nations.
It is impossible for a person to know when or how to take revenge on someone who has done something evil to them. Many times we do not know if a person has done the evil act accidentally or on purpose. A good example is when someone cuts you off in traffic, it could be that they did not see you, and what they did was not intentional. It might have been stupid and dangerous, but it was not with malice. We have no right to even think about revenge in such an incident, because we all have done the same thing. Let God deal with that person, it’s not up to you to do God’s chastisement.
I hear people say, “What goes around comes around.” But if you will listen closely to the attitude of those who say this, usually they want something bad to happen to someone. They want God, or someone else, to punish someone; in actuality they want revenge. I have always believed that this type of statement is self-seeking, a work of the flesh, and, in reality, an act of evil led by evil spirits or Satan himself.
The Bible says, “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn His wrath away from him” (Proverbs 24:17-18). The idea of this proverb is that if you are gloating over something bad that has happened to one of your enemies you will hinder the work that God wants to do in that person’s life. Instead of God punishing the person for what he or she has done, God takes His punishing hand away from that person. By your own vengeful attitude you have actually hindered the work of the Lord. And there are many Bible scholars who believe that when the Lord turns His wrath away from your enemy, He will turn that same wrath toward you because of your vengeful attitude. There is the verse that says, “Whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 17:5). So we best be careful what we say or do concerning our enemies.
The Bible says, “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. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:20-21). In some ways this is a troubling verse, because it says that by doing good to your enemy you will “heap burning coals on his head.” Some believe that this means that when you do good for your enemies it makes them ashamed of being your enemy. There is only two ways to eliminate your enemies, and that is to make friends out of them or destroy them. And I believe that this is what this verse is all about, by doing good to your enemies you have done both, you have destroyed your enemy and made friends out of them. But if they continue to be your enemies, even after you have done good for them, it will be the Lord that heaps His vengeance upon those who continue to do evil to you.
Taking revenge on your enemy is not something that the Lord wants us to do. Maybe the Lord wants to punish the offender more than you would have, and by taking your own revenge you have actually let the offending person off the hook of being punished by the Lord. Or maybe the Lord does not want to punish the person as much as you would desire, and if you take personal revenge and you punish the person too much, you end up being the one who has to answer to the Lord. Either way it is a losing situation.
As we go through this life, all of us commit a multitude of sins against other people. And if everyone decided to get revenge this world would be in a terrible mess. When you are insulted it is usually best to keep your cool. When two people are arguing, it is hard for a bystander to determine which one is the fool. Solomon wrote, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult” (Proverbs 12:16).
Peter wrote, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9). Doing good for our enemies will always bring God’s blessings our way. How you treat other people in this life is a choice you make, and doing good is always the right choice. Paul wrote, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13).