Overcoming is Good!

Scripture Read: Romans 12:14-21 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Application: This is an especially hard concept and command because there are two very difficult issues here. First, figuring out how to balance truth with peace, and second, doing it! Figuring it all out is difficult, but if given time to think, and then reliance on the Holy Spirit it is possible.  Basically it boils down to doing to the other what you would want done to you, which includes being honest. In other words, if we are honest, even though we would want mercy for our failures, if we are people of integrity we want to grow. So, even though we hate the feeling of being embarrassed, we would want to be confronted in a merciful way. The real issue is doing it consistently in our life. As with so much in scripture - the answer is simple – the performance is very difficult! We know the “how” = control the flesh! But we don’t experience doing it with consistent success! – Lord help us be what we know we can be!!! Without You we are dead in the water!  We will meditate on this and seek Your help to always overcome evil with good!

* Meditation Questions: When you show tough love, is it tough only on the other person or is it tough also on you? When confronted with hate or evil, what should the most important question be? What is the key to being good?