Lesson 8
The use of force-repaying evil with evil-can produce quick results. But, even though it may stop someone from doing evil, but it cannot motivate anyone to do good. Does your own heart need changing? Do you sometimes want to get revenge on someone who has hurt you?
If you repay anger with anger, you will not produce a healed relationship. If you respond to insults with kind words, respond to anger with goodness, and respond to selfishness with generosity, you are doing something unexpected.
God wants us to love others to overcome evil. Over time, loving behavior will encourage others to really think about their own words and actions. Willingly give others what they need, not what they deserve, as Jesus did for us. Sooner, or later, one of two things will happen. Either, the person will change, or, the person will move onto someone else continuing in anger.
It’s impossible to predict how long it will take to change the heart of another, but God’s love assures us that it is possible.
|
“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not
all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:4-5
|
