Some of the best movies around are revenge movies. A mother’s child was taken, the justice system has let her down, now she must take the law into her own hands, and she will make them pay. So goes the trailer and there are plenty of similar movies out there. We rightly root for the underdog. We watch as mom turned vigilante takes out one bumbling criminal after another. We wait on the edge of our seats to see if she will get to her child on time. After a whole slew of bad guys meets their much deserved ends mom is finally reunited with her baby and that’s usually when the clueless cops finally show up.

    We replay the actions scenes in our minds with us as the hero dispatching the evil doers and saving the girl! Billions have been made using this same formula of movie making. Sometimes they go back and make a sequel! In our average day to day experience we will hopefully never encounter such an ordeal. When we are offended we often start to plot our revenge. In fact it makes total sense to us that if someone has hurt us then the only recourse we have is to get even. Maybe, like me, you’ve said, “I don’t get mad, I get even!”

    How extraordinary it is then that God’s Word tells us the exact opposite. The anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness that God desires. We are told to turn the other cheek. In today’s verse we are told to instead of paying back evil for evil we are to overcome evil by doing good! God is asking us not to become part of the problem but instead part of the solution.

    We won’t always get this right. It is a struggle. With God’s Holy Spirit empowerment we can do what he asks of us and the world will be a better place. Not exactly a money making movie plot but it is definitely a good way to live.