Unlimited: Christ Overcame Evil With Good
Jan 3, 2017 1246
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
We find our best lesson on tragedy in the Cross of Christ. The Cross itself is a symbol of pain, limitation, strain, hatred and rejection. Think of all the worst things involved in tragedy; they are all there at the Cross. Jesus is poised between heaven and earth to indicate He’s rejected by both, but His arms are outstretched to indicate that He will continue to love us. What a lesson about pain and tragedy! Even when you feel forsaken by God, stretch out your arms with love. Overcome evil with good.
In the wilderness Jesus was tempted to use His divine power to escape the fierce assaults of Satan. According to Mark 15:30-32, the last temptation that came to Him on the Cross was likewise a temptation to use His power to escape the insults of the mob and His allotted sufferings: “Save Yourself and come down from the Cross.”
He could have come down and yet He couldn’t have. He had the power to come down from the Cross. If He could move a finger He could have destroyed all His enemies. The bonds that kept Him there were the bonds of love, not the nails. If Christ had saved Himself, He couldn’t have saved us. There at the Cross, Christ overcame evil with good. – Desmond Ford
Eli’s Reflection: Have you, in your own life, really found out that good overcomes evil? Or have you subtly succumbed to the world’s message that good is weakness, and that evil is strength? Now, in the strength of God’s love, resolve to break the power of evil in your own life. Can you think of someone who has done evil to you, and think of something good that you can do to them? Pray about it, and then go and do it.
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