Last month I shared some of the
scriptures that stood out to me in my Bible reading; the characters that a
Christian should have if they are truly following Christ. In a way this months is related.
In the Ladies Bible study that I attend, we are going
through Romans. This week we reviewed Romans 12, the last half of the passage.
9 Let love be without
hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one
another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in
spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing
in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints,
given to hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you;
bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice
with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another.
Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be
wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil for evil.
Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on
you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved,
do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is
written, “Vengeance
is Mine, I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”[b]
21 Do
not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
I thought, what does this have to do with Biblical womanhood
and in the home? Well for starters let’s think of a few things. Home means
family and relationships between family members.
The
scenario was given of two children fighting. The first hits the second, so the
second child hits back. As a parent how do we handle the situation? One of the
woman said, in their home growing up, when that happened, their mother would
tell them there was nothing she could do, because they had taken the matter
into their own hands instead of coming to her at the first sign of trouble.
Isn’t that
the way it is sometimes in our own Christian walk? When we are wronged, whether
it comes from a fellow Christian woman or a family member, what do we do? Do we
take matters into our own hands, or do we take it to the Lord and leave it
there?
But what if
we’ve already taken care of the matter, leaving no room for the Lord to deal
with it?
When we see
little children fighting, as adults we never encourage it, we want to step in
and break it up. But if they’ve both rendered revenge on each other, what is
there left for us to do, but maybe send them both for time outs? Instead of one
being in trouble, they are both in trouble!
When in
says `give place to wrath’ it is NOT talking about our own wrath, but GOD’S
wrath. Our job is to “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live
peaceably with all men” “Repay no one evil for evil” “Be kindly affectionate to
one another” “Abhor evil” “Cling to good” and “Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good.”
James 4:17 “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does
not do it, to him it is sin.”
That’s
pretty strong!
In the heat
of the moment it’s often hard to keep a clear head, as we’ve often seen in our
children. They get so focused on “what I want” or their little “me first” or
“he hit me first”. Christ tells us we are responsible for our own actions and
we will be judged accordingly, regardless of what the other person did.
As a
Christian woman, I often would love to spout out my mind and set something
straight, but as I’ve shared in previous posts, sometimes the greater work to
be done is prayer. Seeking God’s wisdom and not our own, because sometimes hot
heads to not think straight.
In the
home, I see it’s important to teach children right from a young age, what is
the right way to treat others. What they learn in childhood, they will carry
into adulthood.
S.L.
Kliever
