Overcome Evil with Good
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
-Edmund Burke
Doing nothing is easy, but it is also very dangerous. Where there is no opposition to evil, it multiplies. We all fall into the trap of complaining about things that are wrong in our society and in life, but complaining does nothing except discourage us even more. It changes nothing because there is no positive power in it.
We need to stop and realize that God works through His people. He has chosen to work on this earth through His children-you and me. It's humbling to realize that He could do so much more if we would be committed to love and do good at all times. Remember Jesus' instruction in Matthew 5:16: "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven" (The Amplified Bible).
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The more we respond to evil with evil, the more it increases. I am reminded of a movie titled El Cid. It's the story of the man who united Spain and became a great hero using the principle I'm talking about.
For centuries, the Christians had fought the Moors. They hated and killed each other. In battle, El Cid captured five Moors but refused to kill them because he realized that killing had never done any good. He believed that showing mercy to his enemies would change their hearts, and then both groups could live in peace. Although he was initially labeled a traitor for his actions, they eventually worked and he was honored as a hero.
One of the Moors he captured said, "Anyone can kill, but only a true king can show mercy to his enemies." Because of his one act of kindness, El Cid's enemies offered themselves to him as friends and allies from that point on.
Jesus is a true king and He is good, kind and merciful to all. Can we do any less than follow His example?
Right now, can you think of anyone you could show mercy to? Is there someone who has treated you wrongly that you can be good to? Being merciful and good, especially to your enemies, is one of the most powerful things you can ever do.
Another effective way to overcome evil is through prayer. I had a powerful experience that taught me about this after becoming upset about psychic programs on TV. It was appalling to me to see psychics offering to tell people their futures for a fee. Anyone who was willing to pay several dollars per minute could call in and get a "reading." I frequently complained about this, making comments like, "I just think it's terrible that they allow things like this on television. So many people are just wasting their money and being deceived."
I heard others say basically the same thing. Then one day, God dropped this thought into my heart: If you and everyone else who complains had spent that time praying about the psychics, I could have already done something about it. So I began to pray and asked several others to do the same. Before long most, if not all, of those types of programs were exposed as fraudulent and taken off the air.
We tend to complain about what "they" are doing, like I did when "they" began putting psychics on TV, but we do nothing to make the situation better. Prayer has the power to overcome evil, so we should pray about anything we're tempted to complain about. God considers complaining and murmuring evil. But faith-filled prayers are powerful and effective. Praying opens the door for God to work and do something good!
