Romans 12:9-21
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. 20 Therefore
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head."
21 Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good.
How difficult it is to constantly live with love that is ever set on doing what is good and shirking away from anything with even a hint of worldly evil! Sincere and unfeigned love holds fast to the good things not only to do but also to think of in others and not assume or fixate on the bad that may or may not be present there. We are to love with no assumptions of hidden motives or evil intent and when those are surfaced, we are to respond as Christ would in looking for the good and not judging the thoughts and intents of the heart which only God can do by His word (Hebrews 4:12) and Spirit working in ourselves. We are therefore to exhibit godly love by showing kind and affectionate care as siblings in Christ as we put others first. This also means being diligent in loving others with energetic kindness of earnest care and zeal for each other to serve others as we serve the Lord, which is often truly difficult if we are all honest with ourselves and each other in life. As we so serve the Lord we need to remember to find joy in hope of transforming change of God’s work of sanctifying grace in us all as we patiently endure the fallen nature of ourselves and others in the trying and hard circumstances of life. We are called to prayer and meeting the needs of others to serve as Jesus came to do (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45) and not seek to have others bend to serve us and our perceived needs. When we are persecuted for doing right we are to bless with kindness and not talk bad about or to them to get back at our friends or adversaries. We should find the opportunities to rejoice with those who are joyful for their situations and weep with those who are genuinely mourning for a loss or other painful time. Those who do these things imitate Jesus Christ as He did with Lazarus (John 11:35-36) and his sisters. The difficulty lies in being able to be of the same mind with each other in all things in all humility and not leaning on our own opinions of what another is thinking or feeling as if to find our own wisdom in being able to identify and point our problems. We should instead look to the Lord to reveal them that we may truly empathize and relate in love to the person in the true situation as we put ourselves in their shoes. This means restraint is needed not to respond by giving evil back for evil but to look for the good in the other since we are not God who alone knows the secrets of the hearts (1 Corinthians 14:25) as the person who hears God’s word and all comes out by the prompting of the Spirit of the Lord. The bottom line is to live peaceably with everyone as far as we are able to and they allow us to. Instead of responding in anger we should turn getting back at others to God who alone is allowed vengeance to repay evil; we are called to forgive and forget instead of harboring harm in return when we get the opportunity. There is a day of judgment when the secrets of the hearts will be revealed (Mark 4:22, 1 Corinthians 3:13) and each one answers to God according to what is written in our books. We are therefore called to do good to those opposing us that we overcome evil with doing good. May we not be overcome by evil and drawn into its trap of ill will and vengeance, but instead led by God to lovingkindness and demonstrations of grace in our responses to behave as Christian men and women no matter how difficult or painful even when we are alone in trying to live this way. These are difficult matter to understand and live out, but we are called to do so with all our might. We are called to overcome evil with good in our responses. Amen.
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