Romans 12:21 tells us, “Do not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Evil pervades our world and surrounds us. Evil can overwhelm and overtake us, or we can stand against it.
What is good? What kind of “good” overcomes evil?
We must overcome with inner good—not outer good. Jesus got at the heart of the problem, rebuking the religious leaders of his day, “‘you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean’” (Matthew 23:26).
The motivations are wrong when Christians are out to boost their own egos rather than seek transformation and godliness. That’s what the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day! We get rid of the external and obvious examples of sin, creating outer good, but inside, we hold onto pride, anger, rebellion, deception, selfishness, ambition, etc. In order to overcome, we cannot have the same evil inside of us that we are fighting on the outside.
We’ve got to get the good inside of us. If we have God, we don’t need any of the ego boosting and filth. If we clean the inside, then the good within us can overcome evil! A move of God is suddenly possible and imminent because the people of God are utterly filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by good from the inside out.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.
18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’
19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”
Questions:
How do you respond to evil?
What is the good that overcomes evil?
Have you done any cleaning on the outside but neglected the inside?
04:13We’ve got to overcome evil with the inner good.
06:27We’re not supposed to be feeding our egos off of poor people, or preachers off their sermons.
07:42If there’s evil out there and evil inside of you that’s very much the same…how will you overcome evil and the powers of darkness?
10:34We don’t have to be small in anyone else’s eyes. Everything falls apart when we get big in our own eyes, and we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.
