Valentines Day Revenge
Sunday - February 14th
Devotionals from the Book of James
Scripture to Read Today: James 3:13-18
If you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart,
don't cover up the truth with boasting and lying.
For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom.
Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.
James 3:14-15
Have you ever wanted to get back at an Ex-wife, husband, girlfriend, or boyfriend? Several zoos in the United States let you do just that. For Valentines Day, you can donate to a zoo to have a cockroach named after someone and then watch a live stream of the roach being fed to a reptile, bird, or animal. Most zoos charge $5 to $10 for this service. The San Antonio Zoo even has an upgrade for the "rattiest of exes." For $20, they'll let you name a rat and feed it to a reptile.
If you're not feeling particularly grumpy about Valentine's Day (or roaches), the Bronx Zoo has an entirely different offer. For $15, you can name a cockroach couple in honor of your valentine and you – and "celebrate a love that'll last as long as the roaches - forever."
You don't have to live in the same city as a zoo that offers this opportunity. But, most of them have already closed the door on naming a cockroach or a cockroach couple this year. You will have to wait till next year.
Maybe naming the cockroach couple can be fun (if you like roaches), and you can make a donation to a zoo, but feeding a cockroach named for your ex seems a bit much. The contribution would be good but getting joy out of watching the roach being eaten might mean you need professional help.
James 3:14-15 warns about bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. Being self-absorbed, especially in our anger and revenge, ruins us more than it hurts others. James tells us that feeding our bitterness stems from earthly, unspiritual, and even demonic wisdom, not heavenly wisdom. Being bitter and focused on ourselves causes nothing but trouble in our relationships.
Valentines Day should represent an others-oriented, contented love. It should not be marked by finding an obscure way to feel some cruel satisfaction of revenge. Are you harboring bitterness, envy, or selfishness? Is that which you are harboring in your heart hurting you? It might be time to let it go - but not by having a cockroach named for someone and then watching the roach be eaten.
Read James 3:13-18 and look for the selfless ways of heavenly wisdom instead of what James describes as earthly wisdom.
Selflessness doesn't harbor bitterness. Nor does it seek ways to experience the cruel satisfaction of revenge.