Wednesday, October 7, 2009

I Will Get You For That


What a lopsided baseball game. In 1916, Cumberland College defeated Georgia Tech 22-0. It was rumored that the Cumberland team consisted of some professional players. Using professional players was not only illegal, it was also just plain wrong. How embarrassing that game had to be for Tech! But guess what happened that next Fall? The Georgia Tech football team, with their famous coach John Heisman, paid the Cumberland team back on this day in 1916. Tech defeated Cumberland 222-0! Did you notice the similarities between the football score (222-0) and the baseball score (22-0)? That football game was the ultimate "you got what you deserved" pay back.


It is sad that so many of us try to "get people back" when they do us wrong. That concept was certainly not taught by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In fact, his teaching was the exact opposite. He encouraged His disciples to actually "do good" to those who persecute them. How hard is that for us humans? It is so natural to want to retaliate. It is human nature to want to "give them a dose of their own medicine". But it takes a very big person to love his enemies instead of wanting to get even with them. How in the world can we live up to the standard that Jesus set for each one of us? I don't think we truly can. But we can probably do a better job than what most of us are doing. If we draw our strength from Christ, and not from ourselves, we will never score 222 points against our foes, even if they do "deserve" it. Thank God He did not give each of us what we "deserved" for our sins!


Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."


Father, please remind us that vengeance is Yours, and Yours alone. Help us to do good instead of evil to those who persecute us. In Jesus name, Amen.


3 comments:

  1. This is such a good point Allen ..... Its so easy for us to want to strike back when people hurt us or do us wrong..... its happened to me in the very recent past..2 wrongs dont make a right.Learning to forgive ( maybe not forget) is the biggest gain a person can make as a child of god.It strengthened me and gave me more power than I could imagine. And Im glad I handled it the way I did. This is one of the best devotionals I have read yet.... Please dont stop... keep going! : )

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  2. Whoa! What an awesome point! This post is wonderful! I think it super hard to not "get back" our enemies because we are too hurt and broken to forget it and let it go. Thanks for posting this, it really spoke to my heart! : )

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  3. Revenge is a very powerful thing and can ruin lives. The bible says that when a child of god is damaged due to abuse of any kind that he will have his day with the offenders. Some people cant understand why things keep happening to them in a bad way and why god does not answer their prayers. Its because God is having his day with them. Great point to bring up!

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