You have heard that it was said, Love you neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.  For he causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have?  Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?  Matthew 5:43-46 HCSB

 

I’m sure you have heard the old saying, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”.   Think about that phrase.  This basically says that if someone is mistreating you and you can’t beat them, to mistreat them back or to become like them.  But that’s not at all what the Bible tells us to do.  This scripture passage says that God provides the same sun and rain for the evil, wicked people in the world as He does for us.  The Bible tells us that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  It doesn’t say that we are to do to them what they do to us,  on the contrary it says in Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12 that we are to do unto others as we would have them do to us.  In other words, we are to treat them the way that we want to be treated.

We are told in Romans  12:17-21 not to repay evil for evil.  We are told to be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.  We are told to live in peace with everyone to the best of our ability whenever possible.  We are told to not take revenge, but leave that up to the Lord.  We are even told as to go so far as to feed our enemy when they are hungry and give them drink when they are thirsty.  We are told that doing so is like heaping hot coals on his head.  In 1 Peter 3:8-9 we are told to be loving and sympathetic to one another.  We are told to be humble.  Again, we are told not to repay evil with evil, but to repay it with blessing.  We are told that God calls us to live this way so that we may inherit His blessings.  Romans 12:14 tells us to bless those who persecute you.  And in Romans 12:2 we are told that we must not conform to the ways of this world but that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  We are told in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if we are in Christ, meaning if we have been called to salvation, that we are a new creation.  I don’t know about ya’ll, but at my age being a new creation sounds pretty awesome!

Now some of you just read that last paragraph and you’re thinking that I’m either off my rocker or I just don’t understand what this evil, wicked person has done to you.  Well, let me tell you this, I have had the opportunity to deal with evil in its purest forms.  I have seen the devil work through people in ways I would never have imagined.  I have been there, done that and got the t-shirt.  I have also tried to join them in being just as mean to them as they had been to me.  It didn’t work.  It just bought me more trouble, chaos, and drama in my life.

So, what do you do when something doesn’t work?  Well, hopefully, you try something new.  I had tried it my way, so I decided to try it God’s way.  Actually, it happened like this.  I was sitting at my kitchen table minding my own business, working on a Sunday School lesson on how to handle anger in a Christian manner.  I get this nasty text message.  I mean for no reason at all, one of the most evil, wicked people I have ever encountered sends me this text.  Now, this says a lot considering that I worked with criminals for 25 years and this person was someone in my family, not an offender that I had worked with.  Anyway, this person sends me this mean nasty text.  He was just rude and he was jumping into business that he had no business being involved in.  So, my first inclination was to send him a text right back just as ugly, or hopefully even uglier, than the one he sent me.  I picked up my phone and started to type.  Then out of the corner of the eye.  I saw my Sunday school book.  At the top of the page was the heading, Anger.  Oops!  I thought better get prayed up before I respond.  So that’s what I did.  I prayed to God to help me handle it His way.  I knew that my way was just going to create more problems.  God instructed me to type a text telling this person that from the tone of their text I guessed they were stressed and going through some difficult times.  I told this person that I was praying for them and was there for them if they needed me.  I told them that I had in no way intended to upset them by what I did, but that I only wanted to help them.  I invited them to contact me if they needed to talk or needed help with anything.  I invited them to come to church with me.  I ended by telling them that I hoped they had a nice day and that things got better for them.  When I hit send, I had peace.  I had a calm, peaceful feeling come over me.  It replaced the knots of anger that had been boiling inside of me.  It replaced the bitterness that I felt.  I prayed for that person.  I lifted that person up to God and let me tell you God has dealt with that person harshly and I am hearing from the grapevine that much worse things are headed their way.  I didn’t’ pray for their punishment.  I prayed for their salvation, but they had a choice to make.  Unfortunately, they chose wrong.

Now I don’t have to go before God and answer for anybody but me.  I won’t be answering for my parents, my spouse, my siblings, my friends, just me.  In knowing this, I have determined that  I am going to do the best that I can do.  Even if this means giving up some foolish pride.  Even if this means giving up bitterness, rage, and anger.  I am going to do my best to be kind and compassionate to others.  I am going to do my best to forgive those that offend me (Ephesians 4:30-32).

I am not going to join the evil spiritual forces of this dark world.  I am going to shine like a beacon of light in the darkness.  I am going to be different.  I am going to do the best I can to be what God has called me to be.  I encourage you to join me in doing the same.  I am not going to join them, because I know that I can beat them.  I can rely on God’s strength and power to defeat them (Philippians 4:13).  Psalm 37:1-4 tells me,  Do not fret because of those who do evil or be envious of those who do wrong, for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.  Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the pasture and enjoy safe land.  Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.  

We have to make a conscious  choice to do what God calls us to do.  It’s so easy to be led by the devil in the opposite directions.  We must intentionally pray for others and do what God tells us to do in our relationship.  My prayer for you today is that you are experiencing the peace, joy and comfort that comes from a spirit filled life.  I also pray that those around you will see the difference in you and will want some of what you have.  You can beat them with God’s help and with God’s help they may even come to join you.  Wouldn’t it be awesome it all of us strived to treat others the way we wanted to be treated?

Have a great day!