Antidote for Evil

Do not repay evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If possible, as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:17-21

From Guest Blogger Kathleen Lane:

God’s people don’t fight fire with fire. This is the theme as we come to the end of this week’s Bible selections in Romans 12. “Do not repay evil for evil.” “Overcome evil with good.”

I don’t know about you, but I find these instructions challenging. My natural reaction — whether with my spouse, children, coworkers, or neighbors — when I feel offended, wronged, or attacked, I want to attack back. When I get hurt, I want to hurt that person back. Yet God clearly calls us to a different standard:  “Love your enemies,” Jesus said (Matthew 5:44). “Overcome evil with good.”

These concepts aren’t just hard; they are flat out impossible — at least in our human nature! Putting up a fight and getting even seem to fit better with our human pride and our sense of justice. An eye for an eye. Fight fire with fire. Revenge. That is our common response to evil.

So where are we to draw the strength necessary for the uncommon response of overcoming evil with good? We have the example and the enabling power of Christ. Even as He was being nailed to the cross, He prayed for His executioners, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Then, too, we know that our just and holy God is in charge even when evil people do evil things. God does not call us to set everything right with the world. Instead He tells us that all will eventually work out according to His justice. God will judge after His mercies have had opportunity to do their work.

God uses us to put His mercy and love to work in our evil world. His antidote for evil is love. He calls and empowers us for dispensing His antidote in our world.

Think of a conflict you have with someone.  How can you bring peace to the situation?  Where might God be calling you to share His antidote for evil?

Prayer: Father, instead of trampling evil doers with revenge, help me to lift them into Your presence by showing love. Amen.


#Uncommon

God v. Wisdom

"Since you refuse to listen when I call ... since you diregard all my advice ... I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you."  Proverbs 1:24-26

I know that God is different. My faith believes what He says in Isaiah 55 — "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." But that really hit me today in a Bible study on Proverbs.

According to Proverbs, Wisdom (personified as a woman who calls out in the public square to teach anyone who would listen) is unforgiving — a sort of cold, cause-effect realist. Wisdom points to the reality of how the world works:  "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth" (Proverbs 10:4); "A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself" (Proverbs 11:17). There's nothing particularly religious or spiritual about that — it's just how the world works. Consider a few professional athletes who are arrogant and selfish ... and how they pile trouble on themselves and invite the disdain of teammates and fans. (Contrast them with the great team players, who work and play with humility and a teachable spirit.) In countless ways we all pile up trouble in our lives by foolishness. We have family members, coworkers, and neighbors who seem to be magnets for trouble ... because of the choices they've made.

Wisdom points to those who live foolishly, who have chosen to pile up trouble, and says:  "If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called ... I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you — when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when distress and trouble overwhelm you" (Proverbs 1:23-27).

In contrast to Wisdom, God does not abandon us to the mess we've made. Like the father in Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, God is full of compassion and always ready to welcome. In fact, God's entire plan of redemption in Jesus Christ shows that God's way is fundamentally different. As one of my favorite verses reminds us:  "God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). He entered our mess. He willingly, lovingly pursued us. And not because we had figured it all out and straightened ourselves out. "While we were still sinners"!  While Wisdom is unforgiving, God is full of mercy.

What really stood out to me today is this:  If God is willing to step into our junk ... what should our Christian response be to our children, friends, neighbors, and coworkers, when they have brought all kinds of trouble on themselves? Turn away, saying: "You brought this on yourself. You have to face the consequences"? No!

No doubt, it would be unloving to enable someone in their foolish ways. And according to the ways of Wisdom, we'd be justified in abandoning them to their mess. But I am convinced that the Godly life is marked by a willingness to enter another person's hurt — even the hurt they've piled on themselves — with compassion. We usually can't take away the earthly consequences for them. But we CAN walk with them and say: "I am here with you. I am here for you. I will not abandon you." This is the way of God, who says, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."

What does Godly compassion look like for you these days?

Glorious Freedom

In the Middle Ages, they had a type of prison cell called the "spitting cell." It was made for maximum humiliation. The cell was just big enough for one person to stand up in it. You could never sit down. And you couldn’t even raise your arms up — they were constantly down at your side. The door on the cell only came up to your chin, so the jailors took the opportunity, as they walked by, to spit in your face. So, of course, it was appropriately named.

They also had a cell known as the "little-ease cell," or the "cell of little ease," made for maximum discomfort. This was a one-person cell where the floor was built at an angle ... and the walls were all built at an angle. You would always feel "off-center." To make it worse, this cell wasn't tall enough for you to stand up in, and it wasn't wide enough for you to stretch out in. You could never get comfortable in this cell. If you wanted to be upright, you had to squat. If you wanted to sleep, you just had to let your body collapse and sink into a corner all scrunched up. Again, it was appropriately named.

Ever felt like you were trapped in a prison cell like that — maximum pain, maximum humiliation?

I know all kinds of people (some you would never guess) who are living in a prison of addiction, or a prison of regret and shame. Their past, with all their choices, has them locked up, captive to the devil, who works day and night to make them uncomfortable and humiliated. Maybe you're one of those people.

I've been digging into the book of 1 Kings in the Bible; and today I was reading part of King Solomon's prayer when he was dedicating the temple for the Lord. These words hit me:

"When [your people] sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly'; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you ... then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause." (1 Kings 8:46-49)

A couple thoughts:

1) I believe that God has both the desire to save us from the captivity of our sin and the power to release us. He does not want us to suffer; although He will give us over to our enemy when we continue to choose bad over good. I believe God will allow us to be held captive, in order to turn us away from that "sin that so easily entangles" (Heb. 12:1).

2) We are never so boxed in that God is boxed out. I hear people saying that God could not forgive them and would not listen—they feel they've strayed too far. The truth is, however, that whether we are captive "far away or near," it is never too far that God cannot hear and respond.

3) You do not have to live in prison anymore! Here is the good news: Jesus Christ came to rescue us from the grip of the enemy, the devil, who tortures and kills. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me," Jesus says (Luke 4:18-19), "because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners ... to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Maybe you've spent this last year as a prisoner. Perhaps it's been the better part of a decade ... or most of your life ... that you've been captive to addiction, imprisoned by your own choices and the consequences of your actions. Have you had enough of the pain and humiliation? Call out to Jesus: "Set me free from my prison, O God, that I may praise your name!" (Psalm 142:7). Cry out to heaven, where God is never far away. He WILL hear your prayer and your plea. It won't all be better overnight. But God WILL respond. And He will begin to set all things right. "Behold," says Jesus, "I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:5).

**Thank you, Pastor Dean Nadasdy, for telling me about the medieval prison cells. Your illustrations always have a way of sticking with me.**