How can we, “Bless those who have hurt you,” (Romans 12:14) when you and I have probably experienced having interactions with other people who have been less than integrous, possibly even nefarious and/or malicious, but at the very least, dishonest; anything from deceitfully maintaining different versions of one’s Facebook account and sneaking around to physically abusing you or embezzling millions of dollars, everything in between, and more.
If you’re like me, your first reaction is to be offended and rush to playing the part of the victim, getting your feelings hurt and accusing the offender of disrespecting or hurting you by their devious acts.
Take the High Road
Now, you could wallow in self-pity and victimize yourself over this issue, allowing your mind, body, and soul to deteriorate, becoming susceptible to degeneration and disease, or you can take the high road and bless those who hurt you. If you can find the wherewithal to bless those who hurt you, you will expand your ability to strengthen your immune system, maintain a more youthful physiology, and enjoy a happier, more exhilarating lifestyle, and enhanced longevity.
Bless Those Who Hurt You
The meat of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans excerpt includes suggesting that we bless those who persecute us and refrain from cursing those who might have even intentionally and maliciously deceived or attacked us.
The power of your spoken response, lies in the ability of your vocal chords in conjunction with your cognitive and vocal abilities to produce a verbal response. The utterance of these words dictates whether your response is a blessing or a curse, and you know the difference.
To bless someone who has wronged you is not only counter-intuitive it is quite the opposite of how our society conducts itself and how you were raised. You’ve been taught that wrong-doers should be punished, and it is the first feeling that we have when someone has disrespected or hurt you either emotionally or physically. Your instinctual caveman or cavewoman response is to smash the thing that makes you feel bad. That more-evolved spiritual version of yourself is completely tolerant.
That means blessing that person, sincerely wishing for them that they find all the love and good things in life in any way that is a perfect match for them, whether you agree with their choice of methodology or not. Even if you are insincere, by going through the motions of forming the blessing with your ability to do so with your ability to vocalize the words, both you and the person who has caused you these ill feelings will benefit from your blessing.
Nothing good comes come from uttering a curse. Interestingly enough, a crafty, maliciously-motivated individual could spin those negative utterances against you, to cast an evil shadow over you, one of the most effective weapons wielded by the psychopath.
When you’ve used your tongue to cast a blessing rather than a curse, the power that creates worlds launches a wave of all good things coming to all participants.
St. Paul understood that you will get more of how you react in this critical moment in the cycle of abuse. Cursing will add more momentum to the negativity by you uttering a curse (or ill will) even if you are hoping that your response will initiate an equal (or greater) negative response, and will offer some form of retribution or justice. But Paul knew, that a negative response begets more negativity, and a positive response begets more positivity, and how much more positive can it get than to bestow blessings upon another.
This is a painful part of your human evolution, the letting go of your intention to demand punishment and revenge. I know, it’s against everything you’ve ever known, but it is a necessary component of your metamorphosis.
Even if it doesn’t feel right, be aware you will receive the same benefits, if you can only gain control of your tongue. The rest will follow in kind.
You have the power to control whether the energy vortex you’re living your life in is positive or negative in this critical moment.
Let love fill you to overflowing and empower you to initiate love’s response in all that is.