I want revenge. If not for myself, I want it for the person who is wronged in the movie I’m watching or I want it for the friend who has been mistreated or I want it for the oppressed people I’m reading about… I want revenge!

I don’t think that I’m alone. Many of my friends are like me in that we love a good revenge movie. I often call it justice, but it seems there can be a thing line between justice and revenge. When I think about revenge a few sayings come to mind. “I want revenge.” “I will have my revenge.” “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” Oh yeah, and then there’s that “Vengeance is the Lord’s” one.

Of all the revenge-deserving events possible, none stands out more clearly to me than that of having your innocent child murdered. If anything calls out for revenge that would be it. And yet it was that very event that is the greatest example not of revenge, but of love, a love that leads to redemption and ultimately to resolution.

When Jesus Christ was murdered, His father had the ability to take revenge on a level that we can’t even imagine. Yet it was through that act that God sought not revenge, but instead opened the door of redemption. Christ’s death on the cross was the single most revenge-deserving moment in all of human history and God instead used it as the greatest gift to mankind. Through belief in the work that was done on the cross by Jesus, we have been given full access to God. We have been given a means to come before the father and have forgiveness for our sins.

Not only did God the father not take revenge on us, but the innocent Jesus who we murdered said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus could have called down a whole army of angels, when one would have been more than enough, but he didn’t.

I want revenge. God wants us to be redeemed and to have resolution with us. How can I put this into practice in my life? How can I be more like Jesus? How can I see those whom I believe have wronged me or wronged the ones I love and instead of seeking revenge, seek redemption and resolution? The answer is easy, I can’t. I’m not a good enough person to do it. But God can do it through me and only if I’m reminded of the cross and what was done there for me.