Live Without Vengeance!

March 12, 2026

Live Without Vengeance!

It is easy to judge other people.  Maybe they don’t live up to your standards or violate your values or reject the claims of your faith.  Maybe they hurt you or betrayed you or were dishonest with you.  Maybe they cheated you or abandoned you or divorced you. 

It is easy to judge other people who have hurt us.  And when we have been hurt, we often respond with anger.  Our anger wants to restore our version of justice and often at just about any cost.  We call this restoration of our version of justice by the name “vengeance.”

Vengeance is about restoring things to the way we want them.  It is about getting even, letting others know we were right, and punishing the other person.  However, vengeance will not restore our relationships or change our circumstances.  Vengeance is simply a veiled attempt to feel good about unleashing our anger on someone.

In contrast, the Bible instructs us to live without vengeance.  In Romans 12:19 Paul writes; “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.’”

The Apostle Paul wrote these words in a letter to the churches in first century Rome.  Those words would have been difficult for the Christ-followers to receive.  The churches in Rome were experiencing intense persecution and violence and torture by the Roman government. 

Many of the Christ-followers in Rome had been victims.  For those who had not yet been hurt by the persecution, many had family and friends who had been executed, imprisoned, or tortured.  Nothing felt right or fair or just about what was happening around them and to them. 

They wanted to lash out and restore their own version of justice.  I imagine many of them wanted to get even and probably wanted to hurt those who were responsible.  In other words, they wanted vengeance.

But, the Apostle Paul counsels them to “never avenge yourselves.”  In contrast to our inclination, Paul reminds us that vengeance is to be left to the Lord God.  We hear the same counsel in other places in the Bible.

In Leviticus 19:18 we hear; “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”  Instead of taking vengeance, we are to love the other person.

In Isaiah 35:4 we hear; “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!  Here is your God.  He (the Lord) will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.  He will come and save you.’”  It is the Lord God who will bring vengeance and judgement.  It is the Lord God who will set things right. 

In Jeremiah 51:36 we hear; “Therefore thus says the Lord: I am going to defend your cause and take vengeance for you.  I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry…”  Vengeance is not our responsibility; the Lord will take vengeance for us.

+I wonder if there is someone for whom you are wishing pain would come, justice would roll down, or a difficult restoration would occur.  What if you shifted your “wishing” for them from one of pain to one of blessing?  Imagine praying each day for the next 21 days God would bless that person.  What might change in you and in them?

+Is there someone you would enjoy experiencing the same kind (or even more!) of pain they caused you?  Could you ask Jesus to take responsibility for the vengeance you want to inflict?  Could you ask Jesus to heal the pain that person caused you?  Can you let go of the desire for vengeance?    

When the hurt is deep enough, we quickly turn to wanting vengeance on the person we hold responsible.  The Bible calls us to live without vengeance by trusting that the Lord God will take care of the judging, the setting right, and the punishment (if any!).

When we are able to let go of feeling responsible to judge as well as to take vengeance there is a kind of freedom and delight that begins to fill our heart.  Ask Jesus to restore a desire for delight and a freedom in your soul rather than a need to judge or a desire for vengeance.

Take Delight In The Lord!

Doug