OVERCOME EVIL
Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good.
The verses right before our scripture give us instructions along these lines. Verse 17 says, “Don’t give evil for evil.” Verse 18 say, “As much as possible, live peaceably with all men.” Verse 20 says, “Don’t try to avenge yourself with those who do evil to you, let God deal with them.” Verse 21 says “If someone has done you wrong, do good to them.” Then we have today’s verse which tells us how to overcome evil; we do it with good. What is the good?
It's when you go out of your way to bless someone who has done you evil. If your enemy, the one who just did evil to you, is hungry, buy him a steak dinner, or at least get him a gift card to your favorite place. If the one, who did you evil, is thirsty, send him a 2-month supply of his favorite soft drink. If someone did you evil, lied about you or misrepresented you, you should let everyone know they are a liar and put it all over Facebook and Instagram. Wrong; you should send them an offering or find something good they have done and acknowledge it. This is so counter to what our flesh wants and, frankly, quite opposite of what most Christians do in our society and in the church. Because the world and its ways always try to infiltrate the church, even many in the church feel like you can’t let someone get away with anything; they must be called out, and the truth must be known and spoken. I’m all for the truth, but this scripture is the truth, and it says we overcome evil with good.
What happens when we don’t overcome evil with good? What happens when we give evil for evil? What happens if we don’t try to live peaceably with all men? What if we do take into our own hands and avenge ourselves? The evil then that was done to us has truly overcome us, and we have removed God from this hurtful, painful, and wrong situation when we most desperately need God involved in things like this. When you overcome the evil done to you with doing good back to the one who has done you evil, you are letting God into the situation so He can fix it. He said in Verse 19 that vengeance is His and He will repay. Then, the next verse is very exciting. Verse 20 says if you give your enemy something good, it allows God to heap hot coals of fire on his head. Wow! But before you get too excited that God is going to fry your enemy, the one who did you wrong, further study shows this is a priestly function that allows God to deal with people and show them His love and mercy. He allows them to repent. We should always be on the side of God and want to see people helped. Of course, if your enemy does not respond to the love and mercy of God, they may be judged if they don’t judge themselves. Remember, God’s way of overcoming evil is for us to do good, so go and do good!