What do you do when someone hurts you or says something that cuts deep into you like a knife? How do you feel when it is someone very close to you, perhaps your husband? You either retreat into a shell with self-pity and bitterness. Or you shout and yell. You want to pay them back.
That’s our first reaction. And can you believe it? God agrees with us. But He has a different way of paying back than we do. He wants us to “pay them back with a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9). Another translation says: “Retaliate with a blessing.”
How can you bless someone back when you feel hurt and mad at them? Only by God’s grace. Only by the power of Christ’s love and forgiveness that is in you because Christ lives in you. God’s ways are opposite to the way we feel, but they always work.
Can I encourage you to try it? Is your husband cold and indifferent to you? Does he say things that hurt you? Think of ways to bless him. Take time to think of blessing words to say to him. Speak kind, sweet, and loving words to him, even in the face of his indifference. You won’t feel like doing this, but let me tell you, you will be amazed at the miracles that will take place when you do it God’s way.
Proverbs 12: 25 (TLB): “A word of encouragement does wonders.” Try it. It works.
Proverbs 15:1: “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.”
Proverbs 15;15: “A soft tongue breaketh the bone.” Soft and submissive words can break the hardest heart.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Picture: Sunny-side-up eggs. Art by Soosh.