Correct Attitude to Others - Part 17

Greetings:

"Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good." Romans 12: 21 (HCSB)

The picture here is one of a person that is conquered by a bad nature. They have lost the battle with their bad nature and the victory is won by a base mode of thinking and acting. The command is to be victorious over the bad nature with a good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy,upright, and honourable nature.

Interestingly in the Greek passage, the words are developed in such a way to imply that if you do nothing, the bad nature will be victorious. It takes an effort to have a good nature. So, those who are displaying a bad nature just aren't trying. They are letting "nature take it's course." And, that course is evil. Work hard at being an example of the good nature.

Over the preceding days, we have observed in Romans 12 that the correct attitude toward God is complete devotion, toward ourselves is humility, and toward others is love. Paul sums it up in this verse by telling us that to have these attitudes, it takes work. The choice is ours. Do we want to show the world a nature that reflects God - or just mirrors the world itself? What do you want? What will you work for?

Today - begin, if you haven't already, working hard to squash the bad nature and to develop the good nature.

For Kingdom Education,
Doc