“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
Vengeance is cruel. The Chinese philosopher Confucious once stated, “He who seeks revenge digs two graves.” Social evils abound around us because people want to take revenge on those who have hurt them. Courtroom dockets fill, families become estranged, workplace environments are tense with toxicity, and violent crime is rampant–-all because someone thinks they’ve been wronged, and they want vengeance. But in the end, vengeance never produces happiness.
Jesus taught a better way. He said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
Returning good for good and evil for evil are natural human responses, and most people choose to live by that standard. But those who choose the way less traveled, the Jesus way, take a higher plane. It’s the elevated place where battles are won with suffering love and enemies are conquered through peaceful responses. It’s the way of faith that Jesus walked, “who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.” He left us this perfect example and calls us to follow His steps (1 Peter 2:21-24).
It is consistent with man’s fallen nature to treat others unfairly. If God treated us justly, we could not receive the mercy that we so desperately need. In sending Jesus, God provided humanity with that mercy. It is also a fact that people are hurt when others treat them unfairly. This type of treatment should be our expectation and we should already have our responses planned before these painful experiences occur. Jesus said to “love . . . bless . . . do good . . . and pray for” our persecutors.
While returning good for evil seems so counterintuitive and something that none of us can do in our own strength, it is the only effective way to conquer evil.
