Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. – Romans 12:21 (NIV)
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. – Romans 12:21 (KJV)
Theme: Living According to God’s Word
It’s not easy to love those who are unkind to us. I don’t know about you, but when people are mean to me (or, even worse, to my family), I want to treat them the same way. If they say something hurtful, I want to say something hurtful back. If they wrong someone I care about, I want to take action to wrong them back…and sometimes I even want revenge. I know in my heart that it’s not right to say hurtful things or seek revenge, but I try to convince myself it’s ok in these cases because “they started it” or “they had it coming.” Unfortunately, that’s my sinful nature talking and that’s not how God tells us to handle such situations.
Romans 12 verses 9 through 21 provide guidance on how we should respond to evil…and it’s the exact opposite of what many in today’s society teach. God’s guidance isn’t to respond in kind, but to overcome evil with good. The NIV subtitle for this section is “Love in Action.” Even when others have wronged us, these verses tell us:
– Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (verse 9, NIV)
– Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (verse 14, NIV)
– Do not repay anyone evil for evil. (verse 17, NIV)
– Do NOT seek revenge against those who do us harm, because Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. (verse 19, KJV)
– Show kindness to our enemies (this one has always been particularly hard for me to put into action)…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. (verse 20, NIV)
– Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (verse 21, NIV)
As we said up front, it’s not easy to love those who are unkind to us … but that’s what God expects us to do. Rather than giving in to the urge to repay evil with evil, we should overcome evil by doing good.
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