Romans 12:14-16 - Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
A common theme that we see reiterated time and time again in the New Testament is this idea of doing good to those who do evil against you. Our natural tendency is the opposite, which is why Jesus was so clear in explaining that the idea of “an eye for an eye” and “a tooth for a tooth” was not actually the best way to go about things.
There is something about doing good to people who are treating you terribly that speaks volumes about what you believe. It says something about your heart and what your heart is filled with. If your heart is full of the love of God, you don’t need the affirmation of other people. You don’t need them to love you for you to feel good about yourself. If you have the love of God in your heart, you will be able to love as he does, which means that you will be able to love people even if they are your enemy.
If God has done good to you, even though you were doing evil and living in sin, then we should be able to do good to those who are doing evil to us. It’s not easy, but it is possible. It’s this same type of heart that allows us to truly rejoice when others are rejoicing, or weep when others are weeping. It’s a renewed heart and mind that allows us to have harmony with other believers, because our hearts and minds are founded on the same things.
It’s this renewed heart and mind that allows us to forgo pride and have fellowship with people that are considered less than valuable in our world. You see, what God does is he changes us not only for our own good, but also that we might experience good with others and do good to others. In other words, you see people in the right way, and that is that we are all sinners, made in the image of God, in desperate need for salvation from sin through Christ.
Because we all share this, we can look at our persecutors and feel more sorrow for them than anger. We can look at those who are sad, and understand on some level what that sadness feels like. We can unite together under Christ because without him we wouldn’t know who we are or what we are supposed to do. Knowing ourselves and our need for Christ also teaches us humility.
So today, when you think of your interactions with others or how someone may treat you, above all things, humbly love them and do good to them. This is wisdom, to pursue what God has called us to. Others may view this lack of retaliation in persecution or feeling sadness with others, or humbling yourself before others as weakness but we see all these things as strength. Thank the Lord that he has given us this heart in these times, as the world needs to see a love like this, and that love only comes from a renewed heart in Christ.
