Do not repay evil ...

Friday, May 29, 2015. If you take Christian faith half way serious, you will be surprised and amazed by what it tells you and what type of experiences you make when you follow! This applies in particular when it comes to the basic questions of love - in particular to the love to your enemies!

At the core of Christianity …

Love your enemies! Do good to those who despise you. Do not repay evil for evil, but on the contrary, bless those who do evil! This is the key command which we find over and over again in the New Testament. God did this, when he gave Jesus for us. He himself loved those who by ignorance, by their decisions and their behaviour were his enemies.

I am quite convinced that we all do only have a very thin idea of how God is. He is so much more trustworthy and loving than all we know, that we can barely imagine his character. Our image of God is influenced by what we experience day by day, and humans are not that trustworthy, unfortunately.

But we are called to learn from him. We are called to be transformed, to be changed. This change does not take place in one instance. We enter his world. By faith the Christian becomes part of his family. But the change goes step by step. God wants us to go by our own speed, by our own decisions, by our own life, day by day.

Love your enemy …

It is tough. When someone is ignorant or hurts you or acts in a way which upsets you strongly - you are asked to love your enemy:

8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. (1 Peter 3, 8-11)

How do you do it? How to act? What to say? There is much to say about it, much to think. It is not about giving in with all you have all the time. It is not about giving up the fight for justice. But still, in all of this, we are asked to not repay evil with evil.

It is not an easy task. It is the fight, a spiritual fight. You might be tempted to repay evil with evil. You might be tempted to just let your anger out and act on the other. But that cannot be our role, it only leads to a vicious circle of more and more evil. But we are asked to not let it develop into that direction.

You need a strong force bringing justice and love and freedom into your life. That is only possible when the Lord reigns. He needs to reign me and you first. That is the key point: God's spirit to reign our heart and our mind. All the rest will come, but when he does not reign us, we are lost! But when he is there, as the king, the leading power of our life, we are found. (RWEP) ... more texts