The human spirit is so deceptive. Someone hurts you and the first thing that enters into your mind is “One of these days….vengeance will be sweet.” But it’s not long after vengeance has occurred that you realize you still feel as bad as you did prior to it happening; it resolved nothing. If you’re a child of God, you’ve been rewired. That deceptive human spirit, although it’s still in there, now has a God nature to contend with, and God’s way of handling things has nothing to do with your enemy getting his or her “come uppin’s.” God’s ways are to quench the anger with water of the Holy Spirit.
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.
This thought came to my mind as our new Pastor candidate delivered his sermon yesterday morning. A passing thought in the sermon that he didn’t dwell on, but I couldn’t keep my mind off of) was “We want to fight fire with fire, but most fires are put out with water.” Fire is a destructive source. Brush fires scorch acres and acres of property in our community each year leaving nothing behind but blackened trees and ground; but oddly enough what you think would be destroyed beyond hope, grows again with time.
As far as humans are concerned time doesn’t always heal all wounds. Anger and resentment are fire to the soul and spread as quickly as any wild fire. Retaliation in response to someone who hurt us is mostly like gasoline on a flame, it bursts up quickly and gives the appearance of success, but just as quickly burns away to a slow consuming fire. If a fire keeps burning, two things happen, you either have to add more wood, or the wood is consumed. If you want to keep anger in your soul, you’ll either have to stoke that fire, or let it go out on its own, but it’s a whole lot less destructive if you pour water on it in the beginning.
Are you harboring anger or resentment today? Undealt with anger will destroy you from within. But Praise God! The very thing the enemy would use to destroy you also has a built in extinguisher.
Jesus said in John 7:38
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Isn’t it amazing how our Lord works!
I’m not casting a single stone here this morning, I’ve stoked that flame in my own heart on several occasions, it actually felt gratifying for a minute, but it always ends the same. More heartache.
Let it go…
