Sunday School begins at 9 a.m. followed by worship service at 10 a.m. Come join us for worship! Everyone is welcome and invited to attend. Henryetta First Christian Church is located at 412 N. 5th.

"Don’t gloat when your enemy falls, and don’t let your heart rejoice when he stumbles, or the Lord will see, be displeased, and turn his wrath away from him ... Don’t say, 'I’ll do to him what he did to me; I’ll repay the man for what he has done.' (Proverbs 24:17-18, 29).

I saw these words and my thoughts immediately went to social media and how we present ourselves to others there. Are we loving as Christ did, forgiving seventy times seven? Are we turning the other cheek? Are we giving not just our coat, but our cloak also? In short, are we following good after bad? Or are we repaying bad with bad?

Or are we repaying bad with bad?

I can't recall seeing that in scripture. Did I miss it somewhere?

What we find ourselves doing so many times is impulsive -- action before thought occurs. This is entirely emotion based, dredged deeply in self and selfishness. When we do that, we're guilty of the opposite of spreading the gospel. It's easy to fall into that trap set by Satan -- and he loves seeing us fall into it!

So we must fight for all we're worth not to have the goose-and-gander mentality. Jesus told us it wouldn't be easy, that the world would hate us. But that's THIS world, in which we're only travelers heading for (hopefully) a better destination. Just because someone said it doesn't make it so, so stop getting all fired up over literally nothing. It isn't worth your soul to pay someone back just so you get five minutes of ha-ha revenge.

If you want really to get under someone's skin, do the reverse of payback and love them, forgive them. The Bible tells us it's like heaping coals on their heads. But mostly, it frees you from the guilt of revenge and hate. Let the other person carry that burden and you just lighten yours at every opportunity!