Blessings and Cursings

Today I am writing about those moments we all have when another human being offends or dispirits us. To the point where we immediately react with urges of retaliation, either internal (in the mind) or external (with the mouth and body). It may be someone close to us or a perfect stranger who violates our code of conduct. But people do violate it, almost daily, and it doesn’t seem fair to just ignore it. It happened to me in the post office, so unexpectedly, yesterday afternoon as I was nonchalantly mailing a package. The man behind the counter belittled me--made me feel stupid—and then I remembered that this same guy did that to me a few months ago! A trend of jerky behavior!?! Intolerable! When someone offends me in some way, I too often respond as the natural man would. (It goes like this: “How DARE HE? HE’S GONNA BE SORRY!!”) And then I proceed to imagine what type of justification might be entitled to me. How I might “get back” at that person to somehow be recompensed for their wrongful action toward me. In the case of the post office employee, I began planning a phone call to whoever his supervisor is, to recount both of my negative experiences with this person, in hope of some kind of corrective action coming his way. But immediately I was convicted and reminded of my higher calling.

Christ did not tell us to ignore these times when sinners scorn and we are despitefully used. He didn’t tell us to be doormats. But He didn’t tell us it gives us a license to sin either. He told us that these times are the opportunities to set ourselves apart from those who do not bear His name. I’ve been thinking heavily about this in the past few days.

Luke 6:27-36 is pretty straightforward about this. These are some of the most simply written verses and some of the hardest ones to put into action:
“Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Jesus showed us the ULTIMATE example of this when He uttered, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”, all bloody and hurting beyond belief and facing certain death. How could He pray that? I've always marvelled at that.

So how does our response set us apart from those who don't know Him? He told us how:
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that! And if you lend to those from who you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’, expecting to be repaid in full.But LOVE your enemies. Do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Being kind and loving to people who are kind and loving to me is no big deal. But praying blessings on someone who just hurt my feelings in a big way?!? That’s much more of a spiritual victory, and much more of a testimony to His perfect name.

This week I learned to think in a new way about what it means to bless others, and particularly what it means to “bless those who curse you”. I learned a little bit this week about cursings and blessings. A new friend shared with me about how she has made a conscious effort to pray for those and actually BLESS those who wound her spirit in some way. It has freed her from bitterness in her heart. It has helped her to not harbor hate. This is something that does NOT come natural to us as long as we’re in our earthly, sin nature bodies. It has to be done on purpose. But it can be done and Jesus proved it.

One thing we can pray for those who "hurt" us is that they will come to Christ. That's the ultimate blessing anyway--eternity with Him!! If nothing else, we can pray that blessing for those who don't have it. And for their families! Besides blessings of good health and financial prosperity, protection, etc.

I believe that curses are real and blessings are real. God’s promise to Abraham was real:
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great. I will bless those who bless you. And whoever curses you I will curse. And all people on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:2-3

I also believe that there is immense power in the tongue and in what you say about a person, whether it’s to his face or behind his back. In the spiritual realm, there is power to be claimed to bring cursing or blessing upon someone’s life. The source of the power is up to the individual. It’s very interesting to learn about generational curses and how nations and family members can actually experience strife, hardship, financial distress, physical deformities, early death, the list goes on--because of a curse brought upon them by their ancestors. And at the same time, groups of people and families and individuals can reap blessings over generations because of a prayer of a righteous man, or because of God’s decision to bless the generations that come from them.

When we are able to pray blessings over those who have caused us pain or embarrassment, like the guy in the post office, or someone we’ve poured our hearts into only to get a broken heart in return, or someone we've tried to help but they keep letting us down, or someone persecuting us directly or indirectly for a belief, etc. etc…. when we can pray blessings on that person and truly mean our prayer, we are just that much more like Jesus. And I believe He sees it and smiles on it. Because He knows how hard it is to do.