In review of 1 Peter 3:9 it says, “Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it.”
Bottom Line:
Don’t be hateful and repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate or snap back with insults when you're insulted. Instead pay them back with a blessing; pray for God’s help for them, as this is what God called you to do. Bless and he will bless you for it.
What this means to me:
I am to not be hateful or to repay evil for evil that had been done to me. Also, I am not to retaliate or snap back with insults if I have been insulted. Instead, I am to do what’s opposite of my natural inclinations, and pay them back with a blessing; pray for God’s help for them. This is what God has called me to do. Bless them and he will bless me.
Nothing crushes a spirit more than abuse; to feel devalued, unimportant, and misused. Jesus understands this. He says, “I will care for you.”
The starting point in any healing is to getting to know my Healer. I need to say, “Jesus, I don’t know how you did this, but you took the guilt for every sin in the world; the ones done to me and the ones done by me. You took that abuse on yourself. I want to learn to love you. And I want you to come in and heal my heart and my mind and my body.”
As a model for us, Jesus showed that when he was abused, he didn’t retaliate. The Bible says, “Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him. When he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly” (1 Peter 2:23 GW).
What I can trust is that one day, God is going to even the score and balance the books. One day God is going to right all the wrongs. All the evil that’s happened in the world will not go unpunished. God will settle the score. It is his alone to settle. God is a truly just God. He can do a whole lot better job at settling the score than I can. He wants me to leave it in his hands, because he’s God, and I’m not.
One of the reasons we deal with abuse is because it's contagious. It gets passed on from generation to generation. It up to me to break the chain, starting today and starting now. It starts with the power of the Holy Spirit working in me. Therefore, I’m going to strive to think first before taking a natural course of action when I’m offended. I will attempt to work on blessing instead and leaving the justice to God.
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