Jail and Bail
"Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave
room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will
repay,' says the Lord. 'But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is
thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on
his head.'" (Romans 12:19-20, NASB95) [1]
A friend of mine was approached by a sheriff's deputy who served him with a
warrant. The friend was then handcuffed and placed into a cruiser. He was
then taken to a makeshift jail where he had to serve time until he could
raise enough funds to get him out. This was part of a fund raiser called
"Jail and Bail".
The person who was served with a warrant could pay some money not to serve
time. Whether the person served time or not he could for a price find out
who had taken the warrant out on him. Then for a price he could take a
warrant out on the person who had taken one out on him. In this case revenge
was a good money maker.
It is part of our human nature to want to take revenge. From the Scripture
above we know that we are not to do this, though. We are to do the opposite
which we can only do if we have Jesus Christ living inside of us.
Prayer: Father, please forgive us when we want to take revenge rather than
forgive. Help us to love others as You would have us love them. In the name
of Jesus Christ, Your Son, Amen.
Thought: Let us not take revenge but show forgiveness.
By Dean W. Masters
dwmasters@earthlink.net
Owner of the Masters List:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/masterslist
Unedited redistribution approved
[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation:
LaHabra, CA