Repaying Evil with Love

Wow! It's been almost a year and so much has happened in my life! I fell off this wagon of writing every night or so but I was inspired to do this! I need to, it keeps me grounded and on the right path. 
So here I go again!



This morning on my way home I turned on my daily devotion and there were two places in The Bible that were the focal point: 1 Peter 3 and Ephesian. God pointed me when I got home to read the rest of 1 Peter 3 and I'm sure glad I did. 

I have been in a battle with myself for a while on where the line is drawn between being taken advantage of and being a Christian who loves. For the past year or so I feel like I have been so loving, caring and compassionate to people who really don't deserve it in my eyes but being the Christian I am, I know that I am suppose to show love no matter what. 
In 1 Peter 3 starting at verse 8 Peter starts talking on the topic of 'Suffering For Doing Good.' 
As a believer of Christ I am to be like minded or agreeable, sympathetic, love one another or loving compassionate and humble. If I examine myself right here in this moment I can say I fit into about 3 of those categories. I think recently I have not been doing my absolute best in being loving or agreeable. I truly feel that was my strongest point for a long time. As soon as my faith started to grow and grow, I was able to be so loving toward every and anyone! I loved that about my faith and it made life so much easier. 
Verse 9 says never repay evil with evil but repay evil with a blessing. That is what I am called to be, a blessing to others and in return I will receive a blessing. Those who receive God by salvation show God is in their lives by the way they treat others. If I repay evil with evil that shows that I have not been fully transformed by God's grace.  God tells us to love our neighbors (Mark 12:31), if our enemy is hungry, give them something to eat (Proverbs 25:22), and to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39). No retaliation or insult is due to your enemy. I need to treat them the way God would treat His child, with love. 

This doesn't only help our faith or satisfy what God wants His children to be like but like verse 10 says, if we want to embrace and fully enjoy this life we need to see that our day is filled up with good.' I went through a period recently like I have in the past as well that when I would find myself not being in The Word like I should be, it was like my day would drag and EVERYTHING went wrong. I would get frustrated more easily, my son would be more disobedient and I felt like I wasn't loving my husband the way I should be. But as soon as I turned right back to The Word of God, it brought me right where I needed to be and God spoke directly on the problem I was having. I would get into prayer after I read to thank God for showing me and helping me understand exactly what I needed to be doing and everything fell right back on track. Just like that. It's really that simple.
So all that needs to be done is to just run to peace and remain there all the time. God is always watching and He hears our prayers and our cry outs when we are peaceful with others. We can't expect anything when we are being evil to others. 
The awesome thing about being peaceful and 'good' is that no one can take that away from you. They can try to bring us down, but if our faith is strong we can overcome that and stay peaceful. Just like Christ suffered on the cross from doing nothing but good, we might suffer as well. But we are better off suffering than to turn to evil. Even when our enemies talk down to us we need to still approach them with love, gentleness and respect for they will be the ones who are ashamed of their slander. That is why we need to resist evil because the gospel is heard better when we speak with this gentleness and respect. The ones who are evil will truly be punished, not those who are righteous in God's eyes. 

No matter what life throws at me I need to remain peaceful. I need to always love and always show respect. Even if I suffer, I need to follow what God says. I need to do what God is calling me to do. I need to remain in peace and make sure I am resembling God. I might be the only picture of God some one will ever see, so I need to make sure I am not giving out the wrong message. 

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