OVERCOMING EVIL

“Overcome evil with good” — Romans 12:21

Evil will never be defeated by evil. Satan cannot cast out Satan. A surgeon cannot cut out disease with a dirty scalpel. While he removed one problem he would sow the seed of another. It must be health that fights disease. A good temper is necessary to overcome a bad temper in a fellow believer.

Therefore, I must cultivate a virtue if I would eliminate a vice. A bad habit is overcome by cultivating a good one. Nurture the good habit and deprive the bad habit of it’s nourishment and it will eventually die.

This also applies to the faults and vices of my brother.  I must fight them with their opposites. If he is mean-spirited, I must be considerate and gentle. If he is grasping, I must be generous. If he is loud and presumptuous, I must be self-restrained.  If he is devilish, I must be godly. As Peter writes, “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing” (1 Pet. 3:9).

This is the warfare which brings down the empire of sin. I can overcome evil with good, both in myself, and those around me!