VENGEANCE IS MINE!

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse... Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone... Romans 12: 14 - 17 NIV

Contrary to popular belief that vengeance is an act of wickedness, it is an act of justice.

Ever heard of karma?

"Na lie, Life no balance nau!" This is a notoriously popular "axiom" among the teeming lingos of Nigeria's youthful population. But, this cannot be any further from the truth! Life, in fact, is balanced. It is controlled by a Divine Justice system that ensures that whatever 'goes around comes around'. The Oxford British dictionary (90: 1070) defines vengeance as any form of personal retaliatory action against an individual, institution, or group for some perceived harm or injustice. So as mentioned earlier, vengeance is an act of Justice. Need I say, “it is good!” But, good for who? Who is enacting the justice? Us or God? Imperfect beings and an unjust justice system? Or a perfect God and Incorruptible Judge?

Paul, in his admonitions to the Romans above, continued by saying in verse 19; Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

As a passive activist myself, I believe the saying that goes; evil persist when good men do nothing. So, am I asking us to do nothing when evil and unkindness is being done to us? In Paul's famed retort, “God forbid!” Even the Apostle did not say that we should pretend that we are not hurt by the evildoer's actions. Sadly, many preachers and motivational speakers have even suggested that we “shrug it off” and convince ourselves that it's no big deal, whenever we are wronged. I do not stand for this either! In a world full of evil, wrong will almost always seek out the good, and rightly so. Paul mentioned that Christians then would be jailed, some martyred, in their active service to God, but that they should still not revenge.

What then should we do? Do we stand by and become onlookers as evil men and deeds thrive?

Why not “heap coals on their head?” If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you. Proverbs 25: 21 - 22 NIV

This scripture makes an important allusion that even Christians, in recent times, have often misinterpreted. If you are familiar with this part of the Scriptures, I want you to take a pause here, and think. What does this passage means to me? How have I interpreted it all along? What does it mean to "heap coal on one's enemies head?"

As it is my prayer that these words will flood our eyes with the truth of the Word of God, and will help disabuse our minds from various misinterpretations of the Bible that have been proliferated over time, dare I say that "heaping burning coal on one's enemies" means doing good to them. If we take a cue from the preceding verse, where the Bible instructs us to "feed our enemies", then, we can deduce that the latter "heaping coal" verse is a parallel to the former. TO BE CONTINUED