Before starting a series on the Tabernacle which will come in September, I had a thought that I wanted to share and so this will be the initial blog for Godspattern.

Revenge is sweet someone has said. Another saying in our times goes like this, “I don’t get mad, I just get even.” The other day we were driving to town and I was driving the XG in the center lane of a four lane street and I wanted the right lane but a young man in a nice new style Ford pickup cut me off and wouldn’t let me in and soon I discovered after he passed by that he had really wanted my lane anyway. In fact he was going to the same place as me so he had to cut back into my lane again. He had to get there first. You know the type. They would run over you if they had to in order to be first. What a jerk!
But then we came upon a place where we had to detour and he being first was ahead of me(makes sense don’t it), so he got to go into the wrong street first. So I in turn now became first and I got to take the lead and said to my wife….revenge is sweet!
Stupid, stupid, stupid. It didn’t last for long, he passed me going down a hill, on the outside lane and got wherever we were going first. Now isn’t that a stupid story? Yes, you agree “it is.” It is just as stupid as a Christian who seeks revenge from another Christian who perhaps knowingly or unknowingly has brought pain to bear by saying something they shouldn’t have said, or maybe it was an action that never should have happened. Sometimes we may not say it but we think (what a jerk!) The Bible says “vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay.” Have you ever been hurt by someone, maybe even someone you love and you wanted to hurt them back? And perhaps you did just that…you hurt them back, you got even? What good did it do you?
There is no room in a Christian’s life for getting even. No room for revenge.
Jesus said something like “if your enemy thirsts…give him a drink, if he is hungry …give him some food.” That may not be word for word …but that is the gist of it. And He was talking about our enemies ,sooo …if we are to treat our enemies like that, how about somebody we love, even though they said something that hurt or they did something that hurt. Sometimes you hear a person say, “I’ll never trust him or her again.” That may be well and good in some cases but not in every case. The Bible says that we are to be imitators of God, read it in Eph. 5:1-2…I’ll read it for you from the Amplified New Testament, “Therefore be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example] as well-beloved children [imitating their father] and walk in love, [ esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.
You can turn to Philippians 2 and read in the third verse these words in the last part of the verse, “let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves]. I’ve got to finish verse four also (can’t leave it alone) -“Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others.”
What can I say now? I was as much a jerk as the guy in the truck. I repented this morning of such trivial foolishness.
But what about you? You who have sought revenge against your brother or your sister or perhaps someone even closer? Revenge is not sweet …..it belongs to God….it’s not for us.
How does this story relate to the study on the tabernacle, you ask? Well the Tabernacle is all about sacrifice and love is all about sacrifice, is it not? p.s. read all of Philippians 2, it’s all about love…RC