In life, it is normal to have people abuse you and cause you pain for other reasons. And the human part in us would love to give them a taste of their medicine. However much you may feel like taking revenge, you must remember that Jesus taught us to forgive our enemies and instead pray for them. As someone once put it, the law of an eye for an eye will soon leave the whole world blind. It is our holy calling to forget about vengeance and instead to bless those who curse us.
What It Means to Bless Those Who Curse You
The instruction of blessing those who curse you is documented by the apostle Luke in the following scripture:
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:28).
To bless, in this context, means to make a good statement concerning someone. The dictionary defines bless as “pronounce words in a religious rite in order to confer or invoke divine favor upon” So when someone mistreats you, you are challenged to bless them instead of cursing them. This can mean several things but for starters, instead of talking ill of them, talk good of them.
The power to release a spoken blessing to someone comes from God. We know this because the Bible says that all good and perfect things come from above. We also know from Genesis 1:28 that the first blessing to be pronounced upon mankind came from God himself.
God gave you a divine ability to bless and he expects you to use it not only for your friends but enemies as well. Jesus demonstrated this by not cursing those who harmed him. For instance, when the centurion’s servants tortured and crucified him, he blessed them by asking God to forgive them.
And Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 12:34
Another good illustration is when they came to arrest him in the garden. Peter drew his sword to defend the master and he proceeded to chop off the ear of one of the soldiers. Incredibly, Jesus commanded Peter to put his sword back and healed the soldier. That is what it means to bless those who curse you. And since Jesus has demonstrated that to us, we have a good example to emulate.
The Power of the Tongue
The Bible has a lot to say about the power of the tongue. Jesus aptly warned us to be careful with our words because they could easily bring us judgment (Matthew 12:36-37). Apostle James warns us to bridle our tongues because even though they are small organs, they can lead the entire body astray (James 3:1-12). But perhaps the most profound scripture on the power of the tongue is in the following proverb;
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21).
Your tongue has the power to bless as well as the power to curse. When Jesus cautioned us not to curse those who curse us, it was because he knew the power of the tongue. And the problem with pronouncing a curse on someone is that the law of sowing and reaping will come into play. The boomerang effect will end up hurting you more than it hurts them. So it is in your best interests to bless your enemies.
Blessing someone is to speak good things over them, pray for them, or even gift them. In this case, we are supposed to bless those who wish all the bad things for us. Those who curse us wish calamity or any form of evil to befall us.
Curses could be in the form of insults, harmful reproaches, and profanity. Words can deeply hurt and many people have spent years healing from hurtful words. As Christians, we are to exchange curses with blessings. Therefore, if someone at work keeps insulting you, the best way to handle it is to use your words to speak a blessing to them. You can also consider praying for them to change their behavior.
A curse can also be in the form of gossip. This can be someone in your workplace who keeps gossiping and telling lies about you. You can choose to bless them with your words when you come into contact with them.
You can confront them and let them know about their gossip, but continue to speak a blessing to them. Always remember the words of Paul in the following scripture;
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:2).
God Is the One to Judge
As we have already established, Jesus demonstrated the truth of blessing those who curse you. Here is what Apostle Peter says about it;
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds, you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:23-24
One lesson to learn from the above word is that Jesus only trusted God with his life. He knew that only God could judge justly. For this reason, he did not retaliate or curse back; he just left everything to God.
We can also take this example and choose to always leave the judgment to Him. What causes us to curse back is thinking that by doing so, we would have our Justice. However, God is the only one who can judge, and he can do that justly.
We can surrender the judgment to him and be assured that he judges justly. We should only know that our responsibility is to overcome evil with good, while God’s work is to determine what punishment to give to your offender. In the words of scripture,
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. Romans 12:19
Conclusion
As hard as it can be to bless those who curse you, it is for your good. Not only is it liberating but it is also a spiritual seed you sow which you can expect to reap back. Cursing back, on the other hand, will add to the hurt, and you will lack the blessings God has for you.
