"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth;
Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;
For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out."
"But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you."
Loving our enemies is not an easy task--especially when the opportunity arises to give back to them the mistreatment they've given us. In my life, I've had many chances to turn the other cheek, but I've chosen instead to give the person what I felt he deserved. Like the bill collector who keeps calling my house for somebody I've never heard of--and the caller is definitely not nice about questioning my integrity. After three or four times of telling this company that the person they're looking for does not live at my home, and no, I don't know who they are or where they might be, I get a little peeved. So on the fifth call, I gave the caller some of that irritation. Okay, so I felt better for a few minutes, but inevitably the guilt set in and I regretted my rash behavior.
In that moment, when the debt collector called my house yet again and I judged the caller worthy of my wrath, I forgot the Lord's warning that "with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged" (see Matt 7:1). We need to remind ourselves, that if we want mercy from the Lord, we have to be merciful to those around us, not just the people we happen to like or know well.
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