Revenge From A Christian Perspective, By Natasha Jane

Revenge From A Christian Perspective

By Natasha Jane

“He had it coming, he had it coming all along… It was a murder, but not a crime”

For those of you who haven’t heard this song before, it’s Cell Block Tango from the musical Chicago. The song is basically about six female prisoners, en-jailed because they killed their lovers, telling why they killed their lovers. At the end of the song, the women said “Could you tell us that we were wrong?” They felt abused by their lovers, so they took the quick route: get rid of them. Are they really wrong?

Looking from the murderesses’ point of view, their lovers did them wrong so they sought revenge. It seemed fair, right? On the other hand, though, they may have gone a bit overboard with the whole revenge thing. Why would you kill your husband for chewing (no, not chewing, popping!) gum? What about us, as Christians? Do we seek revenge when people do us wrong?

Luke 6:28 clearly reminds us of what God said concerning people doing us wrong. “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”. This may seem ridiculously wrong, but Jesus pointed out that if you only do good to people who do good to you, what difference would you have to people who don’t know God? Don’t they do good to people who do good to them? But what sets us all apart as God’s children is that we are able to do good to people who don’t like us, like Jesus did. Jesus even prayed for those who killed Him! Isn’t that amazing how He can not only preach, but also walk the walk? Who else does that?

Because we have to be as much like our God as possible, look inside ourselves to be nice to people who treat us badly. Like maybe sharing a smile with the bully in your class, or reaching out to the kids who make fun of your hairstyle, you will never know who you can touch by being nice. Looking for revenge will not only stress you out, but there isn’t anything satisfying even when you get that revenge. Only forgiveness can give you completeness and content in your heart, so don’t seek for revenge, even if they “had it coming all along.”

Lean on Whom? By Natasha Jane

Lean on Whom?

By Natasha Jane

Nowadays, when you wander around in the streets, what do you see? Teenagers with their ears covered in brightly colored headphones or simple black dangling earphones? Young men in their fancy suits talking to a beeping devices stuck to their ears? Middle-aged women in cafes, sipping cups after cups of coffee while staring into a laptop screen? Or simply children walking around, fiddling with their phones at the age when they were supposed to play around with crayons? You yourself are reading this on a computer or a laptop screen, or possibly even on your mobile phone (although that would be rather uncomfortable).

Technology has become such an important part of your life that it’s not rare that you see “Twitter wars” or “Facebook terrorism,” It’s also surprisingly common to see people who simply “cannot live without my phone” for even a day. Compare the number of people who “cannot live without my phone” to how often you hear people say, ““I can’t live without God!” Many more people cannot live without their phones nowadays, but not a lot of people can admit they cannot live without God. What has become of our world? Do we need our phones and twitters more, or do we need God more?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Even the writer of Proverbs wrote that we should only trust in the Lord. The Internet, and our fancy gadgets, no matter how amazing or cool they are - they're made by humans. We’re supposed to lean on God and only God; we're not supposed to be at the mercy of broadband connections and mobile providers.

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Psalm 20:7 reminds us that there definitely are people who put their trust in stuff, like chariots and horses, probably the equivalent of our modern age’s Internet and gadgets. Sure, chariots and horses, Internet and gadgets, they are good things. God gives us the intelligence to create beautiful things like those. However, what is dangerous is letting those beautiful things we created control us. It’s like letting our doll tell us what to do; it’s just not right.

I know it’s not easy to give up all the technological advances in life, and I’m not telling you to do that. Instead, find some time in the middle of your text messages and emails, and hang out with God instead. Talk with Him, listen to what He advises you to do, and just spend some quality time with God. Remember, depending on Internet and gadgets all the time is not a good thing. The only one you should depend on is the Lord.

Does God care? By Natasha Jane

Does God care?

By Natasha Jane 

Does God love us? Does He care for us? It’s not fair that she’s got all the things I want, and I get all the things nobody wants! It’s not fair that he got an A on that Math test without studying while I got a D on the test when I studied all night long! It’s just not fair! Doesn’t God see I need His help now? Why doesn’t He listen?

That sounds familiar for you? Well, fear not. You are not alone in this. In fact, I have often faced a similar situation again and again. Whether it’s something simple like getting a D in your test, or something much more difficult like losing your loved ones. Often you’ve prayed for God to help you, but it seems like His help never comes. It’s as if He doesn’t listen to our prayers! But I thought God listens to our prayers!

And indeed, He does. In 1 John 5:14, it’s written: And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. He does hear us! It’s written in the Bible, He listens to us! See, He doesn’t ignore us after all!

But, and this is a big but, He listens to us under one condition. If what we ask is according to His will, of course He would listen. If what we ask is not according to what He plans out for us, He’ll direct us to where He wants us to go.

Imagine this conversation with God:

You: God, why does she have everything? And I have nothing? It’s not fair!

God: No, I have everything. She has what she needs, you have what you need.

You: Yeah right, what she needs is a pretty blonde hair and blue eyes and guys to surround her with admiration. What do I have?

God: You have Me. I know your problems, and I’ll take care of everything, you just trust Me and follow My lead.

As humans, we have our own choices, whether to follow God or not. You don’t just trust something or someone with your life and everything, do you? But since you’re reading this, I assume your choice is to follow God and trust Him with your life. I made that choice, and boy am I glad I did! Let me tell you something about Him. He loves you, He has plans for you.

If you don’t believe me, just flip your Bible to Jeremiah 29:11. It is written: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. He holds your future, He cares for you! It may not be in the way you think it should be, but just trust your life in His hands. God knows better. After all, He knows everything.