Overcome Evil

 

Hey, Cobblestone,

     What’s your plan for overcoming evil? Uh-oh, did you start the day without such a plan?

 So did I.

     In keeping with the pattern of this “Equip” series of letters, I’ll present, from the second half of Romans 12, this week’s biblical mandate in four words or less:

…overcome evil (Romans 12:21).

     When my older grandson was still very young, he jumped unexpectedly into an adult conversation around the dinner table one evening. The three generations ahead of him were fussing over some global issue gone sideways when he interjected, “There’s only one way to fix this.” Forks were suspended, and puzzled looks cast his direction. “Air strike,” he said, and went about eating his dinner. The rest of us wondered what we had done to paint the conversation into such a corner, until the realization dawned on us: we hadn’t yet applied the wisdom of Scripture to the problem.

     “Overcome evil” could be a stand-alone sentence. With the implied “you” for a subject, “overcome” for the verb, and “evil” for the object, it easily qualifies: “Hey, you! Do this to that!” The instruction is active – imperative, even. This must be done. But without further instruction, the conscientious hearer is left with a boatload of legitimate questions. Overcome evil? By what means? Where do I start? What’s my timeline? What happens if I don’t?

     Far be it from our Father to leave us without sufficient instruction. In just one sentence, he meets the most pressing questions:

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (the rest of Romans 12:21).

     What happens if I don’t overcome evil? I’ll be overcome by it. Scary proposition, no? But remember: God doesn’t do unfunded mandates – if he says something must be done, there must be a way to do it. To be overcome is passive; something else, in this case evil, is active and dominant. To this scenario, the Father says, “Do not.” The active role just switched.

     By what means, then, shall I overcome evil? Well, I’ll admit, at times an air strike is mighty tempting. But in practical terms, A WalMart drone and a water balloon may be the best I can manage. I’d say your prospects aren’t much better. Besides, God says the perfect tool for overcoming evil is good. That’s gotta be solid divine inspiration, because none of us would have come up with it on our own.

     Speaking of air strikes, I’ve heard that it costs about $400,000 to shoot a high-flying object out of the sky – and that’s just for the missile itself. If we obey the Word and good is our weapon of choice in overcoming evil, then we may reasonably ask how deep this resource is, how much it costs, and how often we may launch it. In other words, we’re dealing now with some of our other legitimate questions, such as Where do I start? and What’s my timeline? Answers to these are found in the rest of the paragraph we’ve been considering in Romans.

     There’s no place to start but here. Without the divine attribute of omnipresence, you and I will be in precisely one place at any given time. A quick survey of Romans 12:9-21 reveals a startling pattern: every instruction therein makes a way for manifestation that is entirely local – it gets done or doesn’t, right-the-heck here. There’s no provision for going “out there” somewhere to make “somebody else” straighten up and fly right. And that is exactly as it should be. God is with us, everywhere.

     There’s no time to start but now. Funny thing about time: it doesn’t rewind. To “go back” and make amends is actually to move forward in repentance and reconciliation. There’s no bad time for love to be genuine. And again, a defining feature of all the instructions in our study passage is their immediacy – some are even proactive: seek to show hospitality (verse 13). To push off overcoming evil until sometime later is to clock out altogether. As descendants of Adam, we live with the same reality as his firstborn, Cain: “…sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7, God speaking). How immediate is that?

     Oh, but how much does it cost? (Now there’s a deadly question.) Evil has the upper hand, the better strategic position. It’ll take more good than I have on hand to knock it down. What if I run out of funds? Overcoming evil is no small engagement – by comparison, the half-million-dollar air strike seems quite the bargain. To answer the question – or more precisely, to blow it to smithereens – consider an old story about the billionaire J. Paul Getty. Lounging on his yacht, a friend asked, “How much does something like this cost?” Getty’s reply: “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” In overcoming evil, considering the cost is the most disabling consideration of all.

     Jesus paid the account full-up for all time: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you (John 15:13-14). We simply make withdrawals, as need arises in the moment.

     Now that we have a plan, do not be overcome by evil, dear Church. Meditating on Romans 12 might give us the notion that the first adversary to engage is the tendency in ourselves to do precisely the opposite of what the passage compels. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord (verse 11) might be the best way to break out of passivity and gain the high ground. Overcome evil with good, dear Church. Like overcoming hunger with food or fire with water, it makes total sense, once we’ve abandoned the tactics that have done us no good ever before.

     “Air strike” has become an inside joke around my table, and came up in a subject lately. As soon as my grandson looked my way and grinned, I knew it was coming. But now, it reminds us to not let evil have its way. Instead, we do our Jesus-powered level best to apply good for evil’s demise.

     And the cool part? Evil never sees it coming.

 Grace and Peace (to overcome),

 

John