Pastor's Video Blog

Late one summer evening in Broken Bow, Nebraska, a weary truck driver pulled his rig into an all-night truck stop. The waitress had just served him when three tough looking, leather jacketed motorcyclists - of the Hell’s Angels type - decided to give him a hard time. Not only did they verbally abuse him, one grabbed the hamburger off his plate, another took a handful of his french fries, and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it. How would you respond? Well, this trucker did not respond as one might expect. Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the room, put the check and his money on the cash register, and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night. When she returned, one of the bikers said to her, "Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?" She replied, "I don’t know about that, but he sure ain’t much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles on his way out of the parking lot."
One day Jesus said, “You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I tell you, do good to those you can’t stand, speak well of those who don’t tell the truth about you, and pray for those who talk about you behind your back .”
Personally, every time I read that verse I have a hard time with it too. And this is where the argument in my head begins, it goes something like this: “Really? Seriously, Lord? You want me to do what? You have no idea the people I come across. I’m staying with the ‘eye for an eye verse. Besides, if I ever tried to do something nice to old so and so it wouldn’t make any difference. Lord, they wouldn’t get it. They wouldn’t feel the least bit guilty if I did something nice for them (and I really want them to feel guilty !!!) If I’m nice to them they will take advantage of me and expect me to be nice, from now on. And then they will continue in their bad behavior and I’m not going to help enable their bad behavior! In fact that would not be a very loving thing to do (see how much sense I am making Lord!) What I really ought to do is totally embarrass them. What I really ought to do is humiliate them in public. That would show them! That would teach them! Then they would change. Sooooooo, I’m just going to act towards them the way they act towards me! That’s it! Yep! I’m, just going to do what they do to me! I’m going to “Do unto others what they do to me!” …then I can act exactly the way they are….then I can become exactly what they are! ……………………………………………………………………….wait, that didn’t come out right!
Scripture: Luke 6:31 “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”

Prayer: Lord, help me to break the chain of getting even. Help me to return kindness instead. Amen.
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