Photo by DANIEL BECERRA on Unsplash

My experience with the ‘Vengeance Van’

I spotted the large red vehicle parked in front of the main building of the college where I work.

Bold black letters “Vengeance Van” were painted on the side with a picture of a person swinging a bat and the words, “Get Your Vengeance Now!” etched underneath.

A line of students waited their turn to enter the van.

Curiosity got the better of me and I googled the website to learn, “The Vengeance Van is a mobile room where you are permitted to destroy items we provide (or items of your own) using different ‘weapons’ we also provide such as baseball bats, sledgehammers, golf clubs, crowbars and more.”

Although I understand the premise of releasing anger, relieving stress and taking out frustrations, the first thing that came to my mind was the verse in the Bible that states, “Vengeance is mine.” (Romans 12:19 NIV)

The Bible is very clear that we aren’t to avenge ourselves, but rather leave the wrath to God. Romans 12:19 in the NIV says,

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

There is no situation in which Christians should seek to get even. As believers, we aren’t to repay evil for evil.

Why?

It feels natural to want to take our revenge on those who wrong us. They deserve it, after all. But instead, we must trust in God. We must trust that He will execute justice. He will avenge us. And He will do a better job than we could ever imagine.

Although I like the idea of taking a bat to smash old plates and relieve stress, I would’ve preferred the service to be called something fun instead.

“Slash and Smash Your Trash” has a nice ring to it.

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