Lately I’ve been telling pretty much everyone I meet about this World Race I’m about to head off on, and I’ve been explaining why I ever decided it would be a good idea do such a crazy thing. One of the best explanations I have is that I hope to get a better picture of what it looks like to live out Romans 12.
I decided the other day to count the number of “difficult” things Romans 12 calls us to….but I lost count pretty quickly. (I’m not very good with numbers) . I really appreciate the style in which this chapter is written….lots of clear, concise instruction. “Just the facts”. It’s almost like it was written by an engineer!
Verse 21 is a pretty extreme example of this…..difficult, concise instruction. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”. No problem, right?
There’s a man I know who’s really good at making me think about difficult things in scripture, and often has some good wisdom to offer. He recently told me that maturing in our walk with Christ doesn’t just mean we recognize areas of sin in our life, and stop doing those things. He said we need to replace those areas with things that are pleasing to our Lord. It seems to me that this is exactly what verse 21 is saying.
As I spend 11 months traveling across the world, I have no doubt I’ll experience all sorts of crazy new things, and learn a whole lot. Hopefully I’ll learn more about what Romans 12 means…..including how to “overcome evil with good” in real and specific ways in my life.
