Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21
The mantra of modern evangelicalism is to overcome evil with nothing. Surrounded by evil? Do nothing. At the very least, you should “turn the other cheek,” no matter the aggression. No matter the abuse. No matter the evil. Allow it to happen. That’s what God wants after all, right?
Nope.
Modern evangelicals love to ignore parts of the Bible. Instead of recognizing a time and a place to turn the other cheek, we obsess over that passage, redefining Jesus’s words to imply doing nothing in the face of evil, while ignoring all of the verses that contradict our narrow interpretation. Or otherwise, we redefine “good.” Instead of overcoming evil with good, we don’t overcome evil at all. We think inaction is good. We think doing nothing is Godly.
If Jesus is merely the Lord of our hearts – if the future we have to look forward to is purely spiritual, and the physical world is meaninglessly going to pass away never to be seen again with no hope of sanctification or resurrection, then the best thing to do is nothing.
Evil is just a natural part of the physical world. So there’s nothing that can be done in that gnostic reality.
But nothing overcomes nothing. Nothing certainly does not overcome evil. Good overcomes evil. And good requires action. Faithfulness requires action.
Lack of action is faithlessness.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Nowhere here is there a time for nothing. So act. Overcome evil. Don’t do nothing. And overcome it with good.
