“If a man pays back evil for good, evil will never leave his house” (17:13). There will be times when you will suffer some insult or some injustice. When this happens, it is like someone has handed you a cup filled with their poisonous attitude. What you do with that next is vitally important. If you retaliate, it is like drinking the cup of poison. To retaliate to evil is to allow yourself to be infected by the very evil attitude that you have suffered from. You can suffer offense and injustice and yet recover in a short time. But if you retaliate; if you drink that cup, then the offense or injustice becomes lethal. Retaliation occurs in more ways than you may recognise. We must be very honest with ourselves about the symptoms of a retaliatory attitude, lest we fail to recognise that we have imbibed the poison whilst believing that we have not. The act of retaliation begins with an attitude. Even judging the other person is already an act of retaliation. We must see past the action of the person and see the victim behind the evil act. Anyone who does evil is more of a victim to evil than the one who suffers from his actions. Our attitude should be one of love and a desire to see the other person freed from the evil by which they have been overcome. This was the attitude of Jesus when he was being tortured and mocked. He prayed saying: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Let the same grace be in you.
Are you still holding the poison cup of bitterness and judgement towards something? Give it over to God.
Read Proverbs 17:13-19
