Managing one’s anger and hatred is not uncommon in the battlefields of Christian Counselling. After all, anger is a basic (and probably universal?) reaction to frustration and pain; and we are dealing with people who had a lot of those in life.
We encounter a lot of people who, in one point in their lives, were hurt by others. While the people who wronged them have moved on from the incident, the victim has been spending their lives trapped in dreaming of their revenge. This is, after all, the seemingly natural process of human justice: “people who wronged me have to suffer for it” or “people have to pay what they owe.”
This is not how Jesus Christ taught us in dealing with our enemies. The LORD said: “love and pray for your enemies” (Matthew 5:44) because the best thing you can do with your anger is to free yourself from it and stop being its slave. Only then can you move on with your life to live it fully. Pray for your enemies, even if you don’t mean it at first (In counselling, I would say: JUST DO IT). The Lord Jesus knows that we cannot simply change our minds and emotions, so He showed us a way on how to free us through actions.
So, you want to be truly happy? Then pick up your mat and walk away from these negativities. Let go of this cancer of hate, which will never work for you anyway, and live your life free from anger and hate.
The best revenge is not hurting the tormentor back.
The best revenge is not hurting ourselves either.
The best revenge is a life well lived.
God bless your week!