Overcoming Evil With Good

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21

Being familiar with the book of Romans is one thing. Putting its teaching to work in your life is something else again.

Beginning with chapter 12, the book’s focus is on the practical side of Christian living. Home and government, church and community—each should reflect the dynamic nature of the doctrine you believe, as John Henry Jowett describes.

WALK WITH JOHN HENRY JOWETT
“How can we cast out evil?

“The surgeon cannot cut out the disease if his instruments are defiled; while he removes one ill growth, he sows the seeds of another.

“It must be health which fights disease.

“And therefore I must cultivate a virtue if I would eradicate a vice. If there is some immoral habit in my life, the best way to destroy it would be to cultivate a good one.

“Take the mind away from the evil one. Deprive it of thought food. Give the thought to the nobler mood, and the ignoble will die.

“And this also applies to the faults and vices of my brother. I must fight them with their opposites. If he is harsh and cruel, I must be considerate and gentle. If he is grasping, I must be generous. If he is acting devilish, I must act Christlike.

“This is the warfare which tells upon the empire of sin. I can overcome evil with good.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
As darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of good.

And all that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing, to take their light and hide it under a bushel basket, to “leave well enough alone.”

Overcome. It’s a word that demands an active response if what you believe is truly going to affect how you behave.