“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
We do not read far into the Bible before we discover that evil is going to be a problem for all of mankind, and womankind, lest women feel left out. In fact, we don’t get more than three chapters into Genesis before we see evil raise its ugly head. Evil is present because of on evil personage – the devil. All you have to do to spell devil is to add a d to evil. We have to deal with evil from the time we are born until we leave this earth. Paul knew that evil could overcome us, so he exhorted us to overcome evil with good. The first thing we need to know about evil is that it does not look like our concept of evil. We think of evil as something ugly and deranged. Even pictures of our concept of the devil show him to be an ugly red creature with horns and a pitchfork. That concept is not what we find in the Bible. Paul wrote about Satan in 2 Corinthians 11:14: “And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” The devil is smart enough to not make evil look bad, in fact, it sometimes looks very good. Think of how the old serpent Satan made the forbidden fruit look to Eve. It was almost as if she had to have that fruit to find fulfillment in life. No, evil does not always resemble what we call evil. The pornography industry is making billions of dollars by making evil look good. I am reminded of a country song that was on the charts in the 1970’s, entitled “It Don’t Feel Like Sinning to Me.” The song was about a woman who was having an illicit affair and since it didn’t feel like sinning, it was alright. Go ahead and confess that evil does not always, or rarely, look like our concept of evil. To be fore warned is to be forearmed. The second thing we need to know about evil is that we will always have to deal with it. The devil would not leave Jesus alone, and he certainly will not leave us alone. He tempted Jesus to do his bidding on what we have come to call “The Mount of Temptation.” In one of the temptations, he told Jesus to behold all of the kingdoms of the world, and he would give them to him if Jesus would fall down and worship him. Aren’t we glad that Jesus refused to do his bidding!!!! Perhaps the devil thought that this was a weakness within Jesus. It wasn’t a weakness within Jesus, but it is within us. The devil knows our every weakness and he will play on our weaknesses all day long. That is why we need to bathe our days in prayer. I’m not sharing something here that I have heard about; rather; I am sharing something that I know firsthand all too well. He loves to destroy the witness of a Christian, and he does it all of the time. The third thing we need to know about evil is to share Paul’s admonition in this verse pertaining to evil, i.e., “overcome evil with good.” One way we can interpret this is that if the devil tempts us to dislike, or hate, someone we should make every effort to love them. I will warn you that the devil will not make this easy. Another way to interpret it is that if you want to say something hurtful and spiteful to someone, instead say something kind and uplifting. Again, this will not be easy. I could go on and on giving illustrations of how we can overcome evil with good, because there is no limit to the ways that we can do this. Jesus told us that when people say ugly things to us we should bless them instead of react in kind. I don’t know about you, but this has been a hard lesson for me, and I still have to work on it. I guess that the best thing to say is that when our minds turn toward evil we should turn them toward good, and depend on Jesus to get us through it. Become aware of the evil around you and overcome it with good. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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