Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been. (Obadiah 1:10-16 ESV)
Have you ever rubbed someone’s face in their defeat?
Or look at it from the other side, has someone ever pushed your loss back into your face? Not fun is it…
I tell my girls it is not whether you win or lose, it is how bad you stomp their heads into the ground… But they know that I am kidding because we talk about that. It is no fun to be on the losing end when the winner is gloating. And you know what we are on the winning end!
I’ve read the story and got an inside scoop that we are going to win in the end! God is the winner and we are on His side, so we are the winners!!!
So does that make playing even more special when we know we are going to win? It should make it easier for us to help those who aren’t on our team to see how good life and the game could be. To not gloat about their situation or tell them that they are losers and need to get it straight before they can come back.
We shouldn’t hold them in their distress or their sin and keep it over them like something they will never over come, because we were there, and God brought us out of it.
Do not cut them off and keep them from coming to our side.
Because the day of judgment is coming, and it is not about how bad you stomped their heads into the ground to get them to change. It is about how much you loved them where they were and allowed God to work in and through you to help them see how much fun the game can be.
What you have done will be done to you. Treat others with love, and you will be too.
aSacredRebel 