When People Laugh At, Or Pick On You, Bless Them, THEN BACK UP!

As Christians, we get our fair share of mocking, as well as jerks in our lives.  God’s Justice works, but you have to do your part, THEN BACK WAY UP!

As Christians, we are taught to bless our enemies and pray for them, which is a very difficult thing to do in the heat of the moment.  There are two reasons for doing this and the second part, which is our reward, is greatly dependent upon doing and understanding the first.

Reason #1, because Jesus told us to do it.

Obedience, yeah, we hate that word at times.  Going off on a person or group when they have wronged us feels so good.  You get that endorphin rush and you feel justified – which totally takes God out of the picture and takes away the tangible and visible justice that we (Christians who have been wronged) could see in the here-and-now, and not just the here-after.

To be calm and clear thinking under duress takes walking in the Spirit and spiritual maturing in the faith.

When we “bless” our enemies, it doesn’t mean that we give them our car after they’ve called us something foul or are working against us at work or at home, it means that we don’t demean their character by speaking ill of them or purposefully spreading rumors for our own revenge.  It means – at the moment of our disrespect – we are nice to them.  Trust me, they hate that.

It also means that when we are doing the opposite of what our carnal nature wants to do, we begin to be more and more like Christ.

Obedience, it pays off, and here is our reward.

Reason #2, because we want God to punish them.  He does a better job.

From the very beginning, God gave humanity authority over the things of this Earth.  When we right our own wrongs, we take that authority away from God, who wants to avenge us, and our only reward is a quick “feel good” moment and nothing more.

God hates it when people mess with His Kids (Christians), and He will dispense a much better form of justice than we could ever hope to do on our own.  He hates wicked people and what God does to them is so far above their heads, they won’t even know they are being punished – and we get front row seats to the event if we are watching.

If we are witnessing this punishment, it also gives us ample opportunity to witness a better way of life through Jesus Christ.

A real-life example of 1 and 2 in action.

Several years ago, I was wrongfully fired from my job simply because my manager didn’t like me.  I wanted to go off on her and the board, which was present at my “ambush termination,” but I didn’t.  In that moment, I thanked them for the job I had, helped them with the tech stuff I had set up, so they wouldn’t be spending weeks or months trying to figure it out, and as I walked out the door, I thanked them again.

Was I hurt, you bet!  Was I mad, oh yeah!  Did I do anything more beyond me helping them in the end, no?  I walked out the door and didn’t raise a bad word against any of the people involved.

Many months went by and I kept getting calls from the state of Missouri.  I will admit that I avoided them, but in one instance, I answered the phone.

The representative was calling about the library and I got a little nervous.  She had told me about the ongoing trial (or something to that effect) that was going on, which really started to get the sweat rolling off my head.

As she was speaking, I interrupted her and sheepishly asked, “ma’am, am I in trouble?”  She laughed and said, “oh no sir, you’re not in trouble, they are, and we’ve been trying to reach you to see if you wanted to listen in on the conversations between us and the employer (name purposefully omitted).

You see, throughout the year, I had done what anyone would do and I collected unemployment.  Because I had done this, my past employer tried to stop it, which set up a chain of events that kept getting them into more and more trouble.  The past employer was dealing with missing documents, an inability to fax the state with time-sensitive materials, which got them into more trouble.  At the end of the year, the past employer had gone through so much “heavenly punishment” for my wrongful termination, they were just wanting it to end.

This type of justice was infinitely better than a quick “screw-you” walking out the door.  This was God’s Justice, and I couldn’t have done it better myself.

Final thoughts:

It’s hard, and I mean REALLY HARD to not only keep your head, but to be nice and respectful to those who are mocking you, treating you poorly, and/or working against you.  It’s hard, but if you do what the Bible says to do, you will be rewarded AND SEE FINAL JUSTICE!

What I learned is this, “bless them that persecute you, then back way up and enjoy the show.”

Scripture sources:

• “to bless our enemies and pray for them”…Matthew 5:43-45
• “takes walking in the Spirit”…Galatians 5:22-24
• “we are nice to them”…Romans 12:20
• “more and more like Christ”…Matthew 5:43-45
• “God gave humanity authority over the things of this Earth”…Genesis 1:28
• “and our only reward is a quick “feel good” moment “…Matthew 6:2, 5, 16
• “He hates wicked people”…Psalm 7:11-13
• “so far above their heads”…Pslam 10:5
• “AND SEE FINAL JUSTICE!”…Romans 12:19