respond to evil with good...

the bible says in luke 6.27-28 (niv), do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you. there are three key verbs – do good, bless, and pray for. that’s part of forgiveness. you return good for evil.

how do you know when you’ve genuinely forgiven somebody?

you can pray for GOD to bless them. you can pray for GOD to bless their life when you know that you have genuinely forgiven them.

you also understand their hurt. you start seeing their hurt. hurt people hurt people. when people are hurting inside, they take it out on others. that parent who hurt you a lot, they were hurting a lot. they were hurting in all kinds of ways. when you learn to forgive, you can not only see your own hurt, but you see their hurt, too. then you start to understand why they acted in such evil or selfish or hurtful or abusive ways. you can pray for them and pray for GOD to bless them.

you say, “but you don’t know how they’ve hurt me.” no, i don’t. and i’m sorry for every hurt that is reading this. but i do know this: you’re never going to get on with your life unless you let it go. unless you forgive and let it go. not forget. but relinquish my right to get even and respond to evil with good.

how can i do that? there’s only one possible way. you have to be filled with the love of GOD. you have to be filled with the love of JESUS CHRIST. because the bible says in 1 corinthians 13.5b (niv), love keeps no record of wrong. when i’m keeping record of wrong, i’m being unloving.

on the other hand, when i let it go and i bless those who hurt me, then that means i’m filled with love. you say, “i can’t do that!” you’re right. you can’t. that’s why you need JESUS CHRIST. there’s no way you can have that kind of love on your own. only the love of GOD inside of you – filling you – can give you that kind of love. there’s no way you can do it on your own. you have to have JESUS CHRIST giving you the day-by-day love to forgive.

just a thought from the front porch…