“Vengeance is Mine: I will Repay” — Romans 12:19

1. Romans 14:14 tells us that we are not to malign another person in return. By not paying back in like kind, we are placing the whole matter in the Lord’s hands.

2. When the believer stays filled with the Holy Spirit, and stays out of emotional revolt, he stays out of the Lord’s way as He disciplines in these cases; and is actually blessed during persecution and pressure.

3. Non retaliation then becomes the basis of attracting a lost and dying world to Christ.

4. This means that rapport can exist even when there is antagonism on the part of one party.

5. Non retaliation means holding off, maintain your mental attitude which accompanies the filling of the Holy Spirit.

6. When you retaliate you lower yourself to the level of the person who initiated the action. You are out of fellowship and therefore carnal — as is the person who crossed you.

7. Stay out of the way of your temper, retaliation does not belong to you.

8. It is in the Lord’s hands. Stay out of the way or you will confuse the issue.

9. God takes care of discipline.

10. Retaliation always boomerangs.

11. Retaliation always destroys inner beauty.

12. See exegesis: Romans 12:19-20; 1 Peter 3:9.

13. The erection of an edification complex of the soul is the greatest deterrent to the subject of ‘personal vengeance.’

14. Do not confuse this verse with acts of justified war when a nation defends itself against enemies. Then you fight to win.

So … Don’t get someone else’s discipline on you. Let the Lord handle it.