It’s often said, “revenge is a dish best served cold.” But is the proverb true? Not in my experience.
The truth is somewhat different: Revenge is a dish that poisons the cook. The desire to take revenge on someone who has hurt or betrayed you can fill your nostrils with a scent more heady than fresh-baked cinnamon rolls. It wraps you in imagined responses from the people/person who caused your pain. Perhaps they will be ashamed—cinnamon folded into the rising dough. Maybe they will apologize—sprinkled pecans garnish the buttery rolls. And the pièce de résistance . . . maybe, just maybe, they will experience a cupful of the anguish they caused you—drizzled icing on the top! There’s only one problem: the icing is laced with arsenic.
My pastor-husband and I were forced to resign from a church he had pastored for 23 years. A web of misunderstandings, false assumptions, and one outright lie caused irreparable damage, and it was in everyone’s best interests that we left. But the fragrance of revenge soon enticed me. I began to rehearse things I would say, people I would confront, and ways I would humiliate the one who had perpetrated the lie. I didn’t know it at the time, but my soul was being poisoned.
God’s Word says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord'” (Romans 12:9 ESV). I know Scripture, so I began to pray “Get ’em, God” prayers. The heavens grew stony. My heart bled out peace, joy, and contentment until very little was left. By the time I obtained the physical evidence I needed to prove the lie, I was ready to swoop down on the malefactor with all the forces of law and justice. I’d slay the beast of false witness and my husband would be vindicated.
Liam, the hero in The Heir’s Beloved, vows to slaughter Fenwick, the man who murdered his father and now controls the stolen duchy. But God intervenes when Ella, a violet-eyed, kindhearted woman who is preyed upon by the lascivious villain, confronts him. Liam faces the same dilemma I did. Will he dispatch the murderer to Hades? Or will Ella’s rescue become the antidote God uses to spare him from the soul toxin of revenge?
God spared me from the poison by his own voice spoken through the lips of my husband. “That’s not who we are,” he said. My spouse urged me to do what I already knew I should do—forgive the person and turn his fate and judgment over to God.
It was amazing what happened when I did. Peace, joy, and contentment returned. I sensed the approval of my heavenly Father, who applied the perfect sugary topping to a new recipe for my life, one that is poison-free. I’m enjoying every bite.
“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all… (the words here are quoted above)…To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” —Romans 12:17-21, ESV
