Day 39: ALWAYS Give Thanks!
15See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to everyone else. 1 Thessalonians 5:15
In our culture, we often hear folks say, “I don’t get mad. I get even.” This attitude is completely opposite of the one the Apostle Paul offers in today’s reading. We are not to pay back “evil for evil.” We are ALWAYS to try to do good to “each other and to everyone else.” Paul’s command is FIRST and foremost that we try to do good to “each other”—that is to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. But Paul also tells us to live this way toward “everyone else.” That doesn’t leave anyone out, does it? As we change our attitude, to one of gratitude for all that God has done in our lives (or I should say—as JESUS changes our attitude, to one of gratitude for all that His Heavenly Father has done in our lives), we will see that we are “swimming upstream” against our culture, because we will be living lives of grace and love, paying back evil with good, when the culture is just trying to get even, to pay back every shred of evil with more evil.
This command is so practical, because every, single day people carry out evil acts toward us. They may be as small as cutting us off in traffic, or shouting an unkind word to us, when we aren’t moving quickly enough in line. Or they may be major—someone may rob us, or physically attack us. Paul makes no distinctions in his command to us. He says that we are to see that NO ONE pays back evil for evil, but ALWAYS to try to do good to each other and everyone else. As we live that command out in small and major ways we find that others around us will be compelled to consider that we ARE different. They may conclude that the difference is strange, or stupid, OR they may just see it as the influence of Jesus in our lives. Whatever the case may be, our response to evil by doing good is one of the surest ways to show that we are truly children of our heavenly Father, that Jesus is Lord of our lives, and that the Holy Spirit’s power is working in us!
Questions and Comments for Reflection and Action:
Is there anyone in your life right now who consistently carries out acts of evil toward you? What will you do to that person based on today’s Scripture?
Think of situations that you experience in your daily life where evil is carried out. How could you influence that situation in such a way as to ensure that good becomes the standard instead of evil in those situation?
Take some time right now to thank God for the giving us strength to overcome evil with good!