07/14/2018
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When
Sylas was about two years old, he loved horses, so for Christmas he got
a rocking horse that neighed like a real one. He quickly caught on how
to ride his new steed, and was soon rocking back and forth at a
risky pace. His audience waited until the predictable happened: the
horse threw
him off onto the carpet. Sylas didn’t cry—he just got up with
fire in his eyes, grabbed hold of his new horse, and bit it on the nose!
The
horse had a fuzzy nose, so Sylas backed away wiping his mouth to
remove some fuzz. He had reaped the results of his anger. And, the
horse didn’t
appear disturbed at all!
When frustrating
events occur, human instinct may be to get even or seek revenge.
However, retaliating against the one who hurt you does nothing to
heal the difficulty, and it may actually give you yet another
problem, as it did for Sylas. Retaliation only multiplies the distance
you put between
yourself and a soul for whom Jesus died. However, a forgiving
spirit on your part may be the very thing that would lead that one to
the Lord.
Christians can have
“the mind of Christ.” Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount that we
should “pray for them which despitefully use you” (Matthew
5:44). He also said that we must love our enemies and do good to
those who hurt us. Being in tune with the Lord is the secret; He helps
us to have
a desire to respond in a Christian manner, and then to follow up
with prayer for the one who has wronged us.
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