Welcome to Sunday Fuel! This series of questions is designed to assist your personal reflection and fellowship with others about the sermon from this past Sunday.
Go to This Sunday’s Sermon (start at 17:22)
1. Where does the impulse to make things right in the wrong way appear in your own life? Are there scars you are still nursing today? Can you name the wrong or sin towards you biblically and specifically? Whether your situation mirrors one of the three situations (the degrading slap, the merciless lawsuit, or the forced mile) or not, take time to share it with the Lord and ask him to help you work through the following questions.
2. Take some time to identify and acknowledge the way your heart wants to retaliate (e.g. cutting words, complaining, gossiping, giving the cold shoulder, staying busy to avoid engagement, etc.). Is there a pain you want them to feel so they know how much they’re hurt or disappointed you? Confess to the Lord the ways you are attempting to seize God’s seat and settle the score yourself.
3. Meditate on Psalm 37:1-6 and use it to pray through your particular issue or situation whenever you long for justice. Keep this passage in mind when you feel tempted to rehearse the wrongs of others rather than the mercy you have received and review it regularly as you wait on the Lord and trust Him to do justly.
4. Remind yourself that the one that tells us to turn the other cheek, give the cloak, or go the extra mile has done this for us first. We are recipients of mercy and grace from one who gave not just his cheek but his life, willingly letting them strip him of all his clothes, and carried a cross for us. Take time to thank him for his example of merciful love and ask him to help your heart become more like his.
5. What is one wise act of mercy you can plan? Consider how overcoming evil with one specific good, tailored to this person, might look. How can you display the mercy of Christ so that it is aimed at the true good of the other person—through sacrifice, through releasing vengeance and entrusting it to God instead, as you meet a need they have?