Vengance: Whose it anyway?!

"You shall not take vengeance, ^(U)nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but ^(V)you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD."- Leviticus 19:18

Man, I surely can remember my ways...I love to go back forth with a person, if I got mad because of them I would just slice back and forth. However, one time when I kept doing it with my brothers they would just stop and say "Ok man..you got it". Of course that made me angrier so to get back at them in my foolishness I said something or did something outlandish. Why?!! I wanted to feel satisfied by hurting  them to the point where they felt like I felt. This is what we do when we seek vengeance. When I attended the F.O.R.T. church I heard the pastor by the name of John Hollman say this "when we(humans) seek vengeance its pointless because our whole point is to make them feel the hurt we felt, but in order to do that you have to hurt them worse because its impossible for them to feel exactly as you felt at the moment when they hurt you so you have to hurt them worse" That right there is about as practical as it gets, when we take matters into our own hands and seek vengeance we make it worse. It's like a scab, when you pick at it it opens the wound back up and the healing process has to start over again. God takes vengeance and makes it his because he knows our hearts and he knows how to repay it so that it is completely JUST. What does that word just mean..it means its "guided by truth, reason, and fairness". When in our human mind take over that job, we are driven by anger so guess what? We dont reason correctly and we just act out of complete foolishness. In the end when the cloud has cleared someone is hurt badly and your left with the feeling of "why did I let it go that far". For some of us (yes believers) we don't even feel sorrow...we say "shoot I aint bout to let nobody get me like that..no not me". God says differently though...he says it's his and look at the end of that verse he tells you how to deal with your neighbor he says "you shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself". That right there affirms what Jesus said in Matthew 7:12 " "In everything, ^(A)therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for ^(B)this is the Law and the Prophet" When you love someone (yes even someone who has hurt you badly) you have to be overcome with LOVE and Love them as you love yourself. The issue is not about them, but its about you and God. Romans 12:20 explains this simply it says "On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Now literally you do not put burning coals on their head but what this means is that you are liberated from vengeance, you have truly let it go even to the point of helping them when they are in need. The idea with coals is like this...you ever been at home and the AC wasent working right and its started getting hot in the room you know at first you could stand but after a while that heat starts making things uncomfortable for you. You start to sweat and you desire some cool air to just come on so you can cool off. Likewise, when you resist the urge to seek that vengeance its no longer on you. God has it and now its on them, like coals on their head the heat from those coals causes a person to feel the shame and it makes it uncomfortable for them what happens next, it causes them to bend and repent and apologize. Thats why they get mad when you dont bite back at them when they bit you. They are being made uncomfortable with the fact that you acting like its no big deal. They don't realize you are just trying to be free and free indeed. When God takes it he asumes full control and knows how to repay it correctly. No matter if they say you are weak, or a punk, you know you know they are upset because they are uncomfortable with the fact that you are staying calm and not being like them. Transcending above foolishness is how we eliminate it by not giving it a place to take root. No matter what anyone says...it is better to heap those coals then get the coals heaped on you. God Bless you all and stay tuned for day 4.