Overcome

DEVOTION

ROMANS

OVERCOME

Rom 12:17-21

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

NIV

Again, it always seems that Jesus speaks what is opposite of our human nature. When we are hurt by someone it is just natural to want to hurt them back. Who really turns the other cheek? Even turning the other cheek is not what Jesus is talking about here. He is telling us that when someone does something nasty to us, we are to in turn do something nice to them. We are to let God take care of their nasty behavior. Surely another believer would not do anything evil to us. That kind of action would only come from a non-believer and it they remain in that way of life, God will surely deal with them with wrath, not grace. God will repay anyone who does any harm to us because of evil intent. It would seem right to think most non-believers make a conscience effort, thinking, “I am going to do something evil to that Christian today”. But doing evil or behaving badly is just human nature and without the Spirit dwelling within, without being born again, people simply follow their own nature, which is defined by God as evil. He has declared that man’s heart is bent toward evil all the time. Evil being defined as being against God, or defying his authority in their lives. We know some very nice people, who seem to be good people, who do good deeds toward others, but they do not recognize God as the supreme authority in their lives and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are still defined as evil by God and are subjects of his wrath. That is just the facts of life. Nevertheless it does not matter how they are, or what they do, or how they behave toward us, we are to behave in a manner which reflects Jesus. We are to do what is right in the eyes of everybody, reflecting Jesus. Even our nature should be as his, now that we have been born again. We need to make every effort to live in peace with everyone. We should do no harm at all. Jesus told us that we are blessed if we are the peacemaker, making peace our strong suit. But Jesus takes it a step farther then just trying to make peace. He says that we are to go the extra mile and do something good to them. If they are hungry, feed them, if they are thirsty give them a drink. This could be seen as both in the physical or spiritual. Yes, actually give them food and drink, showing kindness and compassion on them in their time of need. That would be contrary to thinking, “Aha, serves you right for being so nasty”, when we see them having a need for food or drink and not being able to get it themselves. Jesus finishes this type of attitude we are to have with the idea of overcoming evil, instead of being overcome by evil. This has everything to do with who influences our attitude and behavior. Are we subject to the influence of the Spirit or of self? We do not need to be influenced by the bad behavior of others, the follow the crowd mentality. In order to be overcome by evil all we have to do is allow our old nature to have it way. Even though we have been born again, that old nature which was supposed to die, keeps popping back up, it refuses to stay dead. It is the war that wages within us, which Paul speaks about that in his spirit he desires to do that which is right, but in the members of his body he does what is not right. It is the war between our human nature and the nature of the Spirit which battles within. We are supposed, with the help of the Spirit, overcome the human nature, the evil, with the Spirits nature, goodness, kindness, gentleness, love, joy, peace, patience and self-control. When we bear those fruit we are indeed giving the non-believers something to eat and drink, feeding their spirit as well as their bodies. No matter how others behave, we are to overcome evil with good.