A mighty and righteous stomp

'Many have missed the point of why Christian should let another person stomp on him. The reason is not that the Christian is a wimp, but that he has surrendered the job of vengeance to the Lord. If someone does me wrong, I am not to take the law into my own hands. Instead, I give it all to God in prayer, and if (in His perfect judgment) he sees fit to do so, He will stomp on the person who stomped on me; and he has a righteous (and bigger) stomp.' -- Ray Comfort, The School of Biblical Evangelism

Last week I asked a question of my fellow Christians who are up in arms about gun control:  "Who are we planning on shooting?"  I also offered some reasons why we maybe shouldn't be so ready to pull the trigger.  In all the talk about "rights", we sometimes forget that we're not primarily citizens of any earthly nation, but of God's kingdom.  (See this post for another take on that.)

Of course, that raises the further question of how Christians are supposed to defend themselves, or avenge wrongs done to them.  The simple answer is that they aren't.  The fact is that Christ calls people to suffer for him, not to make others suffer.  Christians are to be servants, not rulers; oppressed, not oppressors.  We are to take it, but not dish it out.

So I'm saying that we're all supposed to be wimps and doormats, right?  Let me ask you this:  have you ever tried to take abuse without abusing in return?  Have you ever seriously made an effort to bless those who persecute you?  There is very little in this world that's harder to do, especially in a nation where standing up for ourselves and "giving as good as we get" is in our very cultural DNA.  Being a "wimp for Christ" is not for wimps.

I'm forbidden by my God from taking vengeance for the very simple reason that he's promised to take care of it.  He's able; I'm not.  He's powerful; I'm not.  He's wise and just; I'm not.  Rather than having to take that burden upon myself, I get to carry it to someone who can not only do something about it, but do the exactly right thing about it.

Life is hard, and there will always be people who take advantage of those who refuse to fight back.  But this too shall be made right.