Overcome Evil With Good

DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL, BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD. Romans 12.21.

When I was a small boy attending my grandmother’s home Sunday School, on a prize-giving day, a teacher taught us the above Bible verse. In simple words and with little tales he managed to make us understand its meaning. Ever since, this verse has had a profound effect on my life. I hope it will have the same effect on your life too!

Evil of all kinds abound and we are constantly surrounded by it. We, as Christians, must learn early enough in life that you should not be overcome by it. A couple of years ago, we had a very nice English, expatriate couple as neighbours. Anytime, new neighbours came, we made it a point to visit and befriend them. They decided to ‘adopt’ a puppy for company for they had no children. The only problem was that the little fellow started to bark, sometimes incessantly, whether day or night! It was getting on our nerves but we didn’t want to displease them. Then at last one day we let them know.

The good thing about it was that unlike most Easterners, these Westerners didn’t get upset or angry or try to retaliate because of our complaints. They came to our home and we talked about it over a cup of tea! By the way, they are only ‘nominal Christians!’ It surprised us that they behaved better than many Christians and even obeyed the precepts of the Bible more than many ‘church-going spiritual Christians’! Surely, you and I have much to learn from such neighbours!

A long time ago, we had to make a choice between behaving like the people of the world doing ‘tit for tat’ or showing the character of God’s children - ‘not being overcome by evil, but overcoming evil with good’. Some time ago, an acquaintance of ours made some uncalled for and even false statements about me in respect of some social commitments of mine. He even wrote letters to people who were involved. I discussed this with a lawyer friend of mine and we drafted an official letter and sent it to him. Instead of becoming convinced of his misdeeds, he reacted even more furiously.

Not knowing what to do next, my wife and I prayed about it. We agreed to respond the way today’s verse teaches us. Probably I should have done this the first time! Anyway, I wrote a nice letter to him and to all those whom he had contacted. In it, I even praised him a little for some good deeds! That helped to diffuse the situation!

The wise King Solomon said, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Pro 15.1). That is exactly what happened in our situation! I trust that you will keep today’s Bible verse in your heart and respond to life’s difficult situations according to its teaching.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to keep Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You or my neighbours. Amen.