On Love

Just a few words today about the deception and trap of rendering evil for "evil," and the second "evil" actually being good. But to be certain, let's start with a proverb that tells the story in short order: "Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee" (Prov. 20:22). And for good measure, let's go ahead and show that the new testament says the same thing: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom. 12:19-21). That really sums it up, but I would like to make a couple of points of how people are deceived into rendering evil for "evil", when actually they think they are rendering good for evil; and even beyond that how they are actually rendering EVIL FOR GOOD! Let's just cut right to the chase here and use the case of Jesus as an example, because we all know that Jesus was and is good, and that he wasn't doing anything wrong. Okay, we all know that the Jews, who were God's people at the time, forced Pilate to have Jesus put to death. But they did not start out by having him put to death. It started out with seemingly lesser evils, like envy: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him" (Mk. 6:3). And that envy continued to escalate: "And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him" (Lk. 6:7). And when he spoke words that were hard to take, but yet needful and true, it got even worse: "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" (Jn. 8:47,48). And finally, after raising Lazarus from the dead, who had been dead four days, they couldn't hold back what was in them any longer: "Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death" (Jn. 11:53). So they decided to render evil for good, while believing that they were rendering righteousness and justice for his evil. And do you know what the scripture says about rendering evil for good? "Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house" (Prov. 17:13). This is the most exaggerated example of that truth ever, and the last two thousand years bears that forth.

So what really was these people's problem? It's easy really: They were esteemed by the common people as being the great leaders of God's people, who sat in the seat of Moses among them. Jesus acknowledged that they sat in Moses' seat, telling the people to do what they said, but not what they did, because they were hypocrites (Mat. 23:2,3). But in their own minds they were not hypocrites, but rather they were the most important people in Israel. Jesus said that they loved to be called "Rabbi," and they loved to sit in the chief seats in the synagogues" (Mat. 23:5-7). And they loved to honor one another and receive that honor back again, as Jesus also reproved them for (Jn. 5:44). So it comes down to this: They loved to teach God's law, but they were not what the law said to be. But they had themselves and the people believing that they WERE righteous, like the law said to be (Mat. 23:27,28). And when Jesus came to them as the walking, talking manifestation of the law, instead of joining themselves to him and submitting to him, they chose instead to see him as being evil. That way they could continue being righteous in their own eyes, and in the eyes of the people, and not have to suffer the loss of the honor of men. So regardless of how good and how right Jesus was, they found a way to deceive themselves and the people into believing that he was rebelling against God's established order; which order was them and their own traditions! (Mat. 15:1,2) As Jesus told them, they chose to be under dominion to the devil, rather than to conform to the will of God, and obey his word (Jn. 8:44). And in the same conversation with these Jews, whom the scripture says, "believed on him [Jesus]," Jesus informed them that their father the devil was a murderer, and that they were minded to do the same to him" (Jn. 8:31,37,44). And so they did, thinking they were doing God a service (Isa. 53:3,4; Jn. 16:2). But the moral of the story is that the same Spirit that Jesus was under is still guiding some people today, though very few. And the same spirit that was guiding God's people then who envied and killed Jesus, is still among God's people today. Or maybe you don't believe history repeats itself? Don't fall for that lie my friend, for it surely does. The point here is that it is a very serious thing to be led by God's Spirit as Jesus was, and it is every bit as serious to encounter or be around someone who is being led by God's Spirit, and to be under dominion to another spirit at the same time. Why so? Because history does repeat itself, in all things, in all places, and at all times. Amen.