Reward Evil With Good

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)

When someone has done us a wrong, too often do we feel that we must do a wrong back to get even. That is not true; just because someone has done something mean to us doesn’t give us the right-of-way to be mean to them. In the Bible, it mentions several times that we should reward evil with good. That means when something evil or mean is done to us, we should be good and kind back to them.

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matthew 5:43-44) Jesus is talking here, telling people to love their enemies. If someone has cursed, hated, despitefully used, or persecuted you, you are not supposed to take it out on them. Instead, you should love them, bless them, do good unto them, and even pray for them. "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" (Matthew 5: 45-46) If we only love people who love us, we are not different from anyone else in the world. As a Christian, we should be different and distinct from the world. Loving our enemies is a way to become more Christlike. If you want to read a similar passage to the one I have here, you can check out Luke 5:27-32 in your Bible.

If someone has truly done something bad, God will take care of it. "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." (Romans 12:19) God will take care of the “paying back” part for us as long as we follow his word and repay the evil done to us with good. God taking care of our enemies is also mentioned in Deuteronomy: "To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." (Deuteronomy 32:35) It may not happen as quickly as you want, but it will happen in due time.

Why should we go to the trouble of returning good to evil? Reason one, because God said so, but he will also bless and reward us for it. "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee." (Proverbs 25:21-22) There are consequences for repaying evil with evil. "Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house." (Proverbs 17:13) as well as blessing for not repaying evil with evil. "Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing." (1 Peter 3:9)

The golden rule is something we should all practice. "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12) If we don’t want someone to be rude to us, we should not be to them, whoever it may be. So if someone does something mean to us, we should not do the same action or worse back to them, instead reward good with evil and be nice to them!

"See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men." (1 Thessalonians 5:15)

All verses used are from the KJV

The life of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

  “For God so loved the world he gave his only son, so whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

-Jesus (John 3:16)

     Jesus is/was the son of God. God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three in one. This is one of the hardest concepts to comprehend. It’s one of those things we have to ask God to explain to us better when we get to heaven. Jesus was a real person. He knows us by our name. He knows everything about us. We are his creation. He knows the number of hairs we have on our head, your first words, every bruise you’ve ever had. He knows what you did and the sins you have done. That’s why Jesus came to earth to die for us so that we could be washed clean and live with him in eternity one day.  The life of Jesus is recorded in the Gospel, which is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John inside of the Bible.

     Let start at the beginning of his life where it all started. Gabriel, who was an angel, came to Mary with good news. Mary was going to have a baby, and was told to name him Jesus. Mary was a virgin but about to marry Joseph.  Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem, which is where God wanted Jesus to be born. Bethlehem is currently west of Palestine, ten kilometers south of Jerusalem. Scripture does not say a lot about Jesus’s childhood except for when Jesus stayed in the temple for three days without his parents. 

       Jesus chose and had 12 apostles that followed him. These apostles were chosen for a reason, like how he has a reason for everything. Jesus did not just choose them randomly. The apostles were Peter, whose name was originally Simon, denied Jesus three times when he was about to be crucified. Judas Iscariot is well known for being the one who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. John is another apostle who called himself “The one Jesus loved.” Well, of course he was the one Jesus loved because he loves us all so dearly much! The rest of these apostles were Phillip, Matthew, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, Thaddeus, Andrew, Thomas and Simon the Zealot. All of us Christian’s are disciples, and so were these 12, but there is a difference between disciples and Apostles. Disciples are those who spiritually walk with and follow Jesus, (also known as Christian’s) while the 12 apostles did follow Jesus and were disciples they are the apostles since they are the 12 Jesus chose. Apostle in Greek comes from the word apóstolos, which means “one who is sent off.” They were sent off by the Lord to follow Jesus.

      Jesus healed many people during his ministry, and still is to this day. He healed the blind, a sick girl, people from the dead, took demons out of the possessed, and much more! He did so many miracles during this time also. Like calming a storm, multiplying fishes and loaves of bread for the hungry, turning water to wine, and many different miracles not even mentioned in the Gospel. 

When Jesus was around 30 years old Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Jesus was put through a trial then sentenced to death. He was hung on a cross after being whipped 39 times because 40 were known to kill a man. A crown of thorns was put on him. The mountain the cross he was hung on was called mount Golgotha. Then while he was hanging on that cross he was mocked and spat on. His back had to have so many splinters from the wood from every time he tried to breathe. His back was already ripped up from being whipped. After he died he was stabbed in the side by a sword so they could see if he was dead.   He knew this would happen. He came to earth for this reason. He did this so we wouldn’t have to go through the pain of getting whipped then hung on a cross. The one perfect sinless man who has only shown us love and compassion came to earth, was brutally beaten and killed for the sin we did. He felt the weight of the sin of all the world while he was up there. We hung him on that cross. What is crazier is that he knew that billions of people won’t want to believe what he did for us and still be sinful and not apologize for it, and go to hell one day and not spend eternal life in heaven with him. Now that’s true love what he did. That is the Lord's love.

     On the third day the Lord came back from the dead! This is why we celebrate Easter. It is to remember the day Jesus came back from the dead. After 40 days Jesus went to heaven.

    If we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and apologize for our sins this is what gets us to heaven. Heaven is eternal but this life on this world is short and temporary. This world will hurt us but when we get to heaven it will all be worth it. If you haven’t read about this yet I would highly recommend reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. If you want to then go ahead read all four! They are similar and though they do record a lot of the same event, each one I'd different in its own way. Remember that we love because Jesus loved us first.

-Bryar. S. Engelhardt

A Little Leaven

The bible often uses the term “leaven” to symbolize

corruption and it warns us many times about it.

Mark 8:15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed,

beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of

Herod.

Leaven is yeast, and when you put it in dough, it will spread

throughout it, causing the dough to rise.

Satan is always trying to spread throughout our lives in one

way or another and we need to be ready for When he does.

Here are some ways he will try to do that:

1. Through what we see.

One of Satan’s ways to get into our life is through what we

see, and sense most people have a TV in their house, it is easy

for him to do it. So, to stop this attack, we need to be mindful of

what we let into our minds.

Matthew 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall

be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be

darkness, how great is that darkness!

2. Through what we hear

Another way that he tries to get into our life is through what

we hear. We can lessen the chance of this by making sure that

we have godly friends, and being careful of what music we

listen too.

Proverbs 1:4 A wise man will hear, and will increase

learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise

counsels.

3. Through where we go

The last way I want to focus on is through where we go.

There are many wicked places on this earth, and it can be easy

for us to be influenced by what we see there.

Proverbs 4:14 Enter not into the path of the wicked,

and go not in the way of evil men.

Isaac S.