“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. “ – Rom. 12:21
I recently read the story of a young man who was in the army. He was a Christian and had formed the habit of praying beside his bed before he went to sleep. He kept up this practice in the army, but he became an object of mockery and ridicule to the entire barracks. One night he knelt to pray after a long, weary march. As he was praying, one of his tormentors took off his muddy boots and threw them at the boy, one at a time, hitting him on each side of his head. The Christian said nothing about it, and just took the boots and put them beside the bed and continued to pray. But the next morning, when the other man woke up, he found his boots sitting beside his bed, all shined and polished. It so broke his heart that he came to that boy and asked him for forgiveness. That led, after a time, to that man becoming a Christian. This is what Paul means when he says you overcome evil with good. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to overcome an enemy is to make him your friend.”
As Christians we have an obligation to overcome instead of being overcome. But as clear as this command is we seldom obey it. Instead of complaining about the evil done to us, as we usually do, we would be much better off if we did good to those who treat us badly. To do otherwise is to disobey God, which puts us in the same company as those who do evil. – HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
