The Mighty Spoon

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

(Romans 12:21)

 

Although, at first glance, this admonition seems to be a noble Christian principle; to overcome evil with good, if you really think about the implications and the practicallities of the follow-through, it seems a rather strange command made by Paul. It’s almost like a the continuing chapter of Jesus’ ground-breaking new veiw on how to treat our enemies; “love your enemies”. Love? Love your enemies? To put it in more crude terms: to be good when they’re bad? To be willing to take a beating? To put up with the rubbish? To stand down, back out, wave the white flag?!!!

I have to admit that my stubborn nature feels queesy at the very thought. It seems so feeble and lame. It appears so weak and the characteristics of a “loser”. GOD IF YOU’RE SO POWERFUL, WHY WOULD YOU ASK ME, YOUR FOLLOWER, TO APPEAR SO WEAK??!! Where’s the macho-God-zap-all-enemies power in that? And most importantly, is it really possible to practically, everyday, overcome evil with good?

Sometimes the very idea of “overcoming evil with good” feels like trying to battle a great, big fire-breathing dragon with a plastic spoon. Does it really work without getting nailed?

 

There is a very encouraging fact about the battle between good and evil; one which brings hope to us. The good news is found in the very nature of good and evil. Love, being the characteristic of good and hate being the expression of evil, have very different fates. Hate, in its very nature, consumes. It is the biggest consumer of all, that eats and destroys and wipes out everything in its path until there is nothing left. Hate leads, therefore to death. Ironically enough, hate actually brings about its own end by working towards the ultimate goal of death and destruction; to the heart that contains it, and to those who come into contact with it.

Love can deal with death too, but in a very different way.  Love produces and multiplies. It is contagious and spreads itself. In other words, the more there is, the more there is. Love not only creates life, but love also passes through death and can conquer the grave. There is no end, therefore, to love, for it generates its own existence and life. Love is made of the fabrics of Eternity.

Evil, being both destructive and self-destructive cannot ultimately win anything. Even what it wins, it destroys. By Christians returning good with evil, we are planting seeds in the ashes and throwing candles into the dark rooms. By fighting evil with good, it keeps the lover from being contiminated by the thick tar of hate, and it offers hope for those that may wish to depart from the black hole they are fighting so hard to defend.

Love overcame the grave. Good passed through death. If you ask me, that’s some mighty powerful spoon to be fighting with.