Overcome evil by being good

The story is told of a motorcycle patrolman who was rushed to the hospital with an inflamed appendix. The doctors operated and advised him that all was well. However, the patrolman kept feeling something pulling at the hairs on his chest. Worried that it might be a second surgery the doctors hadn’t told him about, he finally got enough energy to pull his hospital gown down enough so he could look at what was making him so uncomfortable.

Taped firmly across his hairy chest were three wide strips of adhesive tape, the kind that doesn’t come off easily. Written in large black letters was the sentence. “Get well quick ….. from the nurse you gave a ticket to last week.”

There is a part of us that is anxious to repay someone else for hurt they may have caused us in the past. We almost view it as a virtue in our culture to “get even”, to refuse to be someone else’s doormat, to stand up for our rights. The result is that while any Christian qualities are viewed favorably in the world, the quality of a forgiving spirit is seen by many as a sign of weakness. But the words of Paul are clear: “Repay no one evil for evil….Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath….Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans
12:17,19,21).

It is a natural response to repay evil with evil, but that is not a quality of Jesus Christ and it must not be a quality of those of us who are his followers. So, how do you treat those who have done you wrong? Don’t respond by telling me how you treat your friends. Jesus says that anybody can do that (Matt. 5:46). That doesn’t make you any different from an atheist or a heathen. The question is, are we willing to strive to have a quality that will quickly set us apart as a follower of Jesus Christ?

That’s not an easy path to follow, but then again, Jesus never promised that it would be!

–Alan Smith

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