How many of us can claim with Job, "my face is red from weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes; yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure"?
To keep our hands free of violence, we must keep our thoughts free of violence. When I am affronted, do my thoughts turn to getting even by putting the other in his place? In Luke 6:28, Jesus tells us to bless those who curse us. Paul provides a similar command in Romans 12:14.
If that were not difficult enough, in Matthew 5:44, Jesus also tells us to pray for those who hurt us.
My take-away is that no matter what happens, I am to control my thoughts, actions and prayers, keeping in mind the eternal perspective and having an earnest desire for the salvation of the one doing the persecuting. In myself I do not have the strength to do this, yet, if I focus on Jesus, as it says in Hebrews 12:1-3, then perhaps, I may get it right.
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