Spite! Such a spiritual word. It has affected the lives, and probably the souls of many people. The dictionary terms it a ‘malicious act’. Translated from Latin, it means evil. I think it comes more from the word ‘spit’, as in spitting poison. The only way to spit poison is if you have it in you to begin with.
Funny thing about the word spite. I is in the middle of it. It is all about I, or better put, ME. My feelings, pride, etc. are hurt. I am going to get payback. Although it is a spiritual word, it isn’t a Godly word. In Genesis 1:26 God said Let US make man in OUR image. I believe He was talking to Himself, triune God. We are like Him, a triune man. Father Son and Holy Ghost. Mind, body, and Soul. Did you ever notice when you talk to yourself, under your breath, you say LET’S try this? What are we doing here? I don’t know about you, but I always speak in plural when I talk to myself, but then, maybe I am just weird. Bottom line is that there is no I in the Christian walk. It is WE, Not ME. If you start concentrating on ME, you will get spiteful. We makes everything easier.
Looking back, every time I did something out of spite, it was because I was upset about what happened to ME. Every time I did something out of spite, I hurt myself in the process. Spite is deadly, because you are focusing on yourself and not others. Pain hurts more, hunger is more sharp, thirst more unbearable,, until you are worrying about others more than yourself. I realize that whenever I have ever done things out of spite, I was the ONLY one that suffered. Other people were never even involved or aware… kind of pointless huh?
There is an old joke. Adam was told he was going to live for 20 years. He complained to God, telling God he wanted to live for 80. God said I don’t have 80 years to give you unless you split the 40 years that I have given to the oxen, monkeys and dogs. That will shorten their lives by 20 years, and I will give them to you. Adam happily said DONE! God said, okey, then you are going to live like you want for 20 years, then you are going out in the field and slave away for 20 years, then hang around annoying people for 20 years and then spend the last 20 years of your life sleeping on the front porch, barking at anyone who gets close to you.
The Bible says that the cruel are cruel even to themselves. People live lives filled with spite and in the end alone in their old age, because they have been centered on themselves.. All that venom, maliciousness, and anger held up inside of them for all those years begins to take over all of their expressions and actions. The older they get, the more they spit. The problem though is spitting doesn’t remove the poison, it just makes it worse. It gets so bad that fewer people will listen to them with every passing day.
When old folks need people the most, no one even visits. It is so sad. I always like to visit an old folks home and love the people that are there. They are now humbled, and seeking a Savior from their lives filled with self-inflicted misery and sin. You can almost smell their suffering. I am sad there are very few old folks homes here in Nicaragua. Wish there were because I love visiting them. What is especially wonderful in an old folks home is this. When you walk by that one person in there and you smell Jesus! 2 Corinthians 2:15 says ‘For we are unto God a sweet Savour of Christ, in them that are saved’.
There are two types of old people. Those that smell like curdled milk, or those that smell like Jesus. Those that are spiteful and unforgiving, or those who refuse to have a negative thought in their head because they choose to think about Jesus and NOT the bad things. Their hearts are on OTHERS. You can smell Jesus on them a mile away in an old folks home- a lot better than the smell of Spite.
However there is a positive side to the word SPITE…
God loves us in SPITE of, not because of. The sooner we teach the kids this, and develop a love affair between them and the Risen Saviour, the sooner they will have GOOD things to dwell on instead of the negative things. When your heart is filled with God there is no room for SPITE.
Best way to treat people who do you wrong is LOVE them. I made the Pinata theif *Estefan from a couple of weeks ago* lead praise and worship today.. He did pretty good actually *red shirt*
PRAYERS