Who is the prankster in your family?
It’s not usually me, but I saw an opportunity this week and jumped on it. Our youngest son, Tyler, is an adult with autism who lives with us, and one of his weekly dinner staples is frozen pizza. He’ll cook it, take it out of the oven, and then sometimes forget to eat it for hours because he gets wrapped up in playing his video game.
So I decided I was going to play a little prank on him. Tyler usually cuts his pizza into regular triangle slices, but this time I got to the pizza cutter first and diced the whole thing into little tiny squares. Then I sat back and waited for his reaction.
And he said, “Hey, thanks for cutting my pizza up into bite-sized pieces, Dad.”
That was not at all what I expected. I thought I had pulled off a pretty good prank, but somehow it backfired because he loved it. Now I think he may actually be leaving his pizza out, hoping I’ll come along and cut it into pizza bites again.
It made me laugh, but it also made me think about how powerful the right response can be.
When somebody expects frustration, anger, sarcasm, or payback, a Christlike response can completely change the moment. It can take the power out of the offense. It can turn down the heat. It can even surprise the other person in a way they didn’t see coming.
Romans 12:20 says, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
That verse is not telling me to be kind as a sneaky way to hurt somebody back. It’s showing me that kindness is stronger than revenge. Grace can do something that getting even never could.
And if I’m honest, that is not always my first instinct. Sometimes I want the comeback. I want the last word. I want the other person to know they got under my skin. But Jesus keeps calling me to something better.
A Christlike reaction may not feel like the strongest comeback in the moment, but it is always the best one.