{"id":3471,"date":"2024-09-17T07:22:24","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T07:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/?p=3471"},"modified":"2024-09-16T00:30:53","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T00:30:53","slug":"dont-curse-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/dont-curse-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Curse Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, September 17<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Curse Them <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bless those who persecute you. Don\u2019t curse them; pray that God will bless them. <\/em>Romans 12:14<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently read this sentence \u201cWho of us has not desired vengeance at some point in our lives?\u201d and it made me think more about forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the most difficult things to extend when we feel we\u2019ve been wronged. The natural reaction to being wronged is to strike back. We see it in our daily lives, when someone offends us the immediate response is to cuss them out and cut that person off. But responding with evil only escalates the situation. Paul challenges us to be honorable, to respond to injustice with integrity, trusting that God sees and will handle all situations justly.<\/p>\n

The more we play the scenario over in our heads, the worse it seems to get. The feelings of unforgiveness and the need for fairness carry with them an increasingly heavy burden. And the Bible teaches us that unforgiveness and seeking fairness are weights we were never intended to bear.<\/p>\n

Jesus completely turned our system of fairness on its head. In Luke 6:27-31, he said, \u201cBut I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.\u201d The way of God is grace-filled, unconditional love, not fighting for what you feel owed. Jesus himself \u201cdid not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, I get it\u2026.we feel the weight of injustice and want the other person to recognize how they\u2019ve hurt us. But Christ reminds us that we have been forgiven so much more than we can ever comprehend. Just as He has forgiven us, we are called to forgive others. This doesn\u2019t mean that what happened to you doesn\u2019t matter\u2014it does. But forgiveness frees you from the burden of carrying bitterness in your heart.<\/p>\n

Today, is there someone you\u2019ve been struggling to forgive? How can Christ\u2019s forgiveness toward you empower you to forgive others?<\/p>\n

Next time someone offends you, don\u2019t curse them or the situation. Instead use it as an opportunity to grow in grace.<\/p>\n

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Prayer for today<\/strong>: Forgiving Father, thank You for the incredible grace You\u2019ve shown me by forgiving my sins. Help me to show that same grace to those who have wronged me. Father help me to refrain from retaliating when I am wronged. Give me the strength to forgive as You have forgiven me. May my actions reflect Your grace and love. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, September 17 Don\u2019t Curse Them Bless those who persecute you. Don\u2019t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Romans 12:14 I recently read this sentence \u201cWho of us has not desired vengeance at some point in our lives?\u201d and it made me think more about forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the most difficult […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3478,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3471\/revisions\/3478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornerstonecem.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}