Tag Archives: Romans 12:19-21

Overcome Evil With Good

Posted on by
Reply
Discipleship Devotional Study Guide - Becoming Like Christ - Day 63 - Romans 12:19-21 - Overcome Evil With Good - Growing As Disciples

Discipleship Devotional Study Guide – Becoming Like Christ – Day 63 – Romans 12:19-21 – Overcome Evil With Good – Growing As Disciples

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. 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.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21 (NIV)

Revenge

That is such a bad idea. What is such a bad idea? It is a bad idea to take revenge. Why is that? It is one thing to be hurt and mistreated by an enemy. That is bad enough. That is evil. That is obviously no fun at all. No, it’s not. What is worse is to let evil overcome me. How so? If I think of elaborate ways to seek revenge or actually take revenge that is simply allowing myself to be overcome by evil. Why is that? Allowing my heart and mind and life to be focused on repaying evil with evil is not your will. You do not want my life to be focused on something so unhelpful and unproductive. Why is that? If I have a revengeful heart and mind and life, I will never be a witness for you in the world. I will never be able to bear fruit for your kingdom or bring glory to your name. Getting caught up in revenge is just one more trick and trap of the devil to thwart the work that you want to do in me. Yes, it is.

I will tell you something that is far sweeter and more gratifying than taking revenge on an enemy. What’s that? Being kind to an enemy is far sweeter than taking any kind of revenge. How so? Nothing is more fun and joyful than to see a former enemy become a friend. By friend, I mean not only my friend, buy your friend. You want the kindness with which I treat enemies to draw them to you. I will never be a brighter witness for you than when I treat enemies with your love and kindness. That’s true. No one, except your followers, does that. The world expects every wrong to repaid with some form of revenge, whether it be small mistreatments or large unkind acts. So, loving my enemies with your love is one way I will be your witness in the world. It will be my regular pattern and practice to love my enemies with your love. I will pray and believe that one day they will become my and your friend.  That will be very good.

Lord, I have been hurt and mistreated by enemies. I must confess that I have allowed myself to become overcome by evil by thinking of elaborate ways to seek revenge. Forgive me. Now, I will do good to every former enemy. Turn them into to my good friends. Amen

Key Question… When have you gone out of your way to do something nice for an enemy?

Living It Out… Make it your regular pattern and practice to express kindness to enemies.

Seeing It Happen… Have faith that the Lord will use you as His witness in the world as you express kindness to enemies.

Get Ready To Share… Share with another person or your small group how the Lord has used you to express kindness to an enemy.

Prayer To Bless Others… May you not be overcome by evil, rather overcome evil with good.

For today’s complete 4 page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide click here:

Becoming Like Christ – Day 63 – Romans 12-19-21 – Overcome Evil With Good – 4 Page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide

Please consider sharing these devotionals with others through the social media you use.

Individual users may save the Discipleship Devotional Study Guide to their desktop for private use. All the blanks in the study guides are fields that allow typed responses. To use the fields on the study guide you may need to open the guide with a free version of adobe reader.

By Jon Ulrich © All rights reserved                   Copying not permitted                      www.GrowingAsDisciples.com

But Overcome Evil With Good

Posted on by
Reply
Discipleship Devotional Study Guide - God's Will - Romans 12:19-21 - But Overcome Evil With Good - Growing As Disciples

Discipleship Devotional Study Guide – God’s Will – Romans 12:19-21 – But Overcome Evil With Good – Growing As Disciples

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. 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.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21 (NIV)

Your Enemy

How have you responded to your enemies? What have you done for those who have done evil against you? Well, I have often brainstormed how I might get even with them. I have considered how I might repay them for every evil that they have done against me. Have you spent a lot of time thinking these kinds of thoughts? I am embarrassed to admit how much time I have wasted imagining what do to those who have hurt me. Have you found thoughts of payback and revenge to be helpful and healthy? Thinking thoughts of payback and revenge have been nothing more than a large waste of time. Why is that? I can’t think of one time that I actually paid someone back or took revenge against them. You just day dreamed about payback and taking revenge against evil that was done against you? That’s right. That is a big waste of time. 

I want you to take a far different approach to those who have done evil against you. What’s that? You are going to like this, I think. I can’t imagine that. You like to brainstorm. You like to day dream. You like to think through scenarios. You like to think about future possibilities of your actions. Yes, I do like to do all those things. Well, I want you to do all those things toward an enemy that has done something to hurt you. I’m already doing that. Yes, I know. But, you are doing all those things with an evil intent of paying them back and seeking revenge. That’s true. I want you to do just the opposite. Like what?

Imagine that one of your strongest enemies became your best friend. That’s hard to imagine. Stay with me. How would you try to turn one of your strongest enemies into one of your best friends? I would begin to brainstorm how I could do good things for them. Then I would look for any and every opportunity to follow through and actually do good things for them. That’s good. What else? I would pray for them continually. That’s also very good. Why would you be willing to do good things toward your enemy? Why would you be willing to continually pray for them? I would do good things for my enemy and pray for them because that is what you are asking of me. That’s right. If you do what I am asking of you, then you may not only have an enemy as a best friend but you might have them as a brother of sister. Wouldn’t it be amazing if your enemy joined you in heaven because of the way that you allowed me to work in and through your life? That would be amazing. Start doing good things for your enemy as you pray for them. Yes, Lord, I will.

Lord, I have sought revenge. I have wanted to pay back others for evil done against me. Forgive me. I will make every effort to overcome evil by doing good. I will seek to turn enemies into friends by doing good things for them. Use me as your witness. Amen

For today’s complete 4 page Discipleship Devotional study guide click here:

God’s Will – Romans 12-19-21 – Overcome Evil With Good – 4 Page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide

Please consider sharing these devotionals with others through the social media you use.

Individual users may save the Discipleship Devotional Study Guide to their desktop for private use. All the blanks in the study guides are fields that allow typed responses. To use the fields on the study guide you may need to open the guide with a free version of adobe reader.

By Jon Ulrich © All rights reserved                   Copying not permitted                      www.GrowingAsDisciples.com