THE DIFFERENCE:

The human impulse is vindictive because of the unity of three persons in one God (‘Gen.1:26-27) which is broken whenever selfishness and the anger of Cain our forefather {Gen.4:6} sets in within events and encounters but the new order of Christ through baptism has changed this ideology to love beyond what words and human eyes can imagine or pray for [‘Glory be to him whose power, working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine’ Eph.3:20] thus we have to move from our old bad habits and cravings to the new call of Christ gospel thus “do not allow yourselves to be shaped by the passions of your old ignorance, but as obedient children, be yourselves holy in all your activity after the model of the Holy One who calls us since scripture says, be holy for I am holy” (1 Pet.1:14-16) because our Lord Jesus has redefined what used to be an eye for an eye; tooth for tooth of the old testament (Ex.21:24) to ‘…Father forgive them for they know not what they do…’ {Lk.23:34} because anybody can engage in these old orders of morbidity but the new nature of Christ requires openness to the Spirit of righteousness thus ‘but to those who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God, to those who believed in his name’ [Jn.1:12]; the power received only when we submit our will-power to the will of God (‘…Father into your hands I commit my spirit…’ Lk.23:46, “…my grace is enough for you: for power is at full stretch in weakness…” 2 Cor.12:9) and the level of ones disposition to Holy Spirit is how much of the Spirit that will be at work {‘…the standard you use will be the standard used for you’ Mtt.7:2} as well as the desire for renewal and consistency in righteousness (“blessed are those who hunger and thirst for uprightness: they shall have their fill” Mtt.5:6, ‘but those who hope in God will regain their strength, they will sprout wings like eagles though they run they will not grow weary though they walk they will never tire’ Isaiah 40:31, “you love uprightness and detest evil. This is why God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness as none of your rivals” Heb.1:9)

What is the difference between your {both the writer and the reader} life and that of those you refer to as pagans, sinners and the wicked since most of your actions they also perform them with dexterity thus “but I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To anyone who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheeks as well; to anyone who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you and do not ask for your property back from someone who takes it. Treat others as you would like people to treat you. If you love those who love you what credit can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to get money back, what credit can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good to them and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked” (LK.6:27-35).

You can be better than what you are now “there is nothing I cannot do in the One who strengthens me” {Phil.4:13} just make the move and remove fear for the Spirit we received is not the Spirit of fear rather that of Power, self-control and chaste as well as genuine love [2 Tim.1:7] and also remember to fan such Spirit into flame (2 Tim.1:6) for God to be glorified {1 Cor.10:31} and human souls to be edified i.e moved to worship God better thus ‘with this in view, do your utmost to support your faith with goodness, goodness with understanding, understanding with self-control, self-control with perseverance, perseverance with devotion, devotion with kindness to brothers and kindness to the brothers with love, the possession and growth of these qualities will prevent your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ from being ineffectual or unproductive. But without them is blind or short-sighted, forgetting how the sins of the past were washed away’ (2 Pet.1:5-9).