Sentence Sermons (Christian Inspiration) #92 --- Revenge (Retaliation)

Revenge is sweet to the taste but bitter in the heart.

—Ernest C. Wareing, Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 6, 1924.

Revenge is sweet only on the tongue.

—Ernest C. Wareing, Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 19, 1925.

Revenge is a sugar-coated morsel.

—Ernest C. Wareing, Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 7, 1927.

Revenge is the sword of envy.

—Ernest C. Wareing, Western Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, Ohio, Oct. 17, 1929.

Revenge may bring satisfaction, but it has never produced peace.

—Roy L. Smith, Christian Advocate, Chicago, Ill., Dec. 19, 1946.

A mind full of revenge is one full of bitterness.

—Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., March 14, 1938.

He is most free from unhappiness who harbors no thought of revenge.

—Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., Dec. 6, 1939.

There is nothing in life so short-lived as the joy that revenge brings.

—Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., Aug. 19, 1941.

Nothing is too small for the man who is seeking revenge.

—Roy L. Smith, Tampa Morning Tribune, Tampa, Fla., Sept. 1, 1941.

You can never catch up with a man by trying to get even with him.

—Henry F. Cope, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill., Nov. 27, 1910.

Nothing has a more bitter after-taste than “sweet” revenge.

—Bill Copeland, Sarasota Journal, Sarasota, Fla., May 10, 1960.

The longest odds in the world are those against getting even.

—Purser Hewitt, The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss., Jan. 22, 1970.

Revenge is sweet, but only to sour souls.

—Nephi Jensen, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 22, 1928.

Trying to get even with an enemy is a sure way of sinking below him.

—Henry F. Cope, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill., Nov. 8, 1908.

Revenge and jealousy are back of more lawsuits than any other human emotions.

—Bert Moses, Lake Charles American Press, Lake Charles, La., Aug. 16, 1941.

Revenge is too expensive for persons engaged in the pursuit of happiness.

—Jack Warwick, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Pittsburgh, Pa., Nov. 21, 1935.

Trying to even up an old score is no way to play the game of life.

—Carey Williams, Beaumont Enterprise, Beaumont, Texas, Jan. 16, 1962.

Revenge may be sweet but it sours the character.

—Vera Wise, The Daily Herald, Biloxi, Miss., Dec. 24, 1941.

Trying to get even is what keeps people at odds.

—Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho, Jan. 13, 1924.

Those who find revenge sweet to the taste usually suffer later from moral indigestion.

—New York Times, New York, N.Y., Feb. 26, 1905.

A woman was severely bitten by a dog and somehow her reaction was more rage than pain.

Three weeks later, when the bite had nearly healed, she was driving her car and spotted the same dog ambling down the road. Her rage rose vehemently and she swerved the car towards the dog in an attempt to run it down. But she missed the dog and crashed into a house.

If you would observe just a little you would find that those who seek revenge on men or beast usually end up by hurting themselves more than anybody else.

Even if no misfortune results, as happened in this case, one does himself or herself mental and spiritual harm by desiring revenge. Few people realize the close relationship between true Christian forgiveness and bodily health.

Those who harbor resentments not only bring bitterness into their minds, bodies and souls but injure themselves physically as well. According to some doctors, many a heart condition is aggravated by deep resentment.

Rather than merely avoiding revenge or resentment, show the same love toward others that Christ displays toward you. If love of God and your fellowman dominates your life, you will accomplish much good and avoid the misery that is allotted those who are bitter of heart.

"He that . . . hateth his brother is in darkness even until now." (1 John 2:9.)

—James G. Keller, Houston Post, Houston, Texas, April 20, 1956.

Somebody has said that revenge converts a little right into a great wrong. At some time or another, perhaps often, your rights are going to be infringed upon. Your dignity is going to be hurt. Somebody is going to fail to give you what you think to be your due. If it makes you angry and you set out for revenge you are going to make a great wrong out of a little "right." Only a small person will do this, but unfortunately there are a great many small persons. Little people cannot rise above the desire for revenge.

—Grove H. Patterson, Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee, Wis., Feb. 3, 1931.

If there ever has been a disposition in our hearts, a desire in our feelings to take revenge, either to take personal vengeance, or to wish that some public vengeance should be executed upon any of those who have offended us or even mobbed us, if there has been a spirit of that kind in us or suggested itself to us, let us beseech God, our Heavenly Father, to take away that feeling from us. It is not good, and we cannot indulge in a spirit of that kind without sinning against Him. Our great exemplar, the Savior, has left for us an example that we should always remember. “Father, forgive them,” was His expression; and surely we should be able to say the same of all who may have offended us or done us an injury, whether it be a real of fancied injury. ... It is an easy thing for men, if they will yield to the feeling, to allow passion to take possession of them, and because of some real or fancied injury justify themselves in doing deeds of violence. Let me say, whenever such a suggestion is presented to the mind, to entertain it and give it place in one’s breast is wrong, for it comes from the evil one, it comes from beneath. ... God help us live so that we may avoid such things, and that we may be overruled for the glory of God, the accomplishment of His purposes and for the preservation of liberty to every human being upon this land.

—George Q. Cannon, Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 27, 1881.

Bacon says, “A man that holds revenge keeps his own wounds green which otherwise would heal and do well.”

Revenge embitters and makes turbulent any mind given over to it. Like a canker, it destroys.

Shakespeare says, “As with age his body uglier grows, so his mind cankers.”

The canker of revenge saps the vitality and dispels peace of mind. Better cultivate the cheerful attitude which rises above hatreds.

—Frank Francis, Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah, June 15, 1924.

It is a mistaken notion that some people entertain, that because men persecute us, we must persecute them; that because men would proscribe us in our religious faith, we must proscribe them in theirs. There is no such principle associated with God or with those who dwell in the love of God, or are actuated by the Spirit of God. Everything of that kind proceeds from beneath and not from above. God is interested in the welfare of all people, all nations, all kindreds, and all tongues. He is the father of the spirits of all flesh, and however narrow and contracted men may be in their ideas, He can afford to let His rain descend on the evil and the good, and cause His sun to shine on the just and the unjust. For this purpose He has introduced the gospel.

—John Taylor, Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec. 17, 1881.