July 14th, 2026
The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
Overcoming Evil With Good
Watchman Nee, the Chinese evangelist, tells this true story.
A poor, Christian Chinese farmer had rice fields high in the mountain. Every day he spent hours pumping water into the rice paddies; but when he returned to the fields the next morning, he would find that his unbelieving neighbor, who lived down the hill, had opened the dikes and drained the water to fill his own fields.
For a while the Christian ignored the injustice, but at last he became desperate. His rice would die if this continued, and this was his livelihood. So he gathered his church, and they prayed and discussed the situation and came up with a plan. The next day the Christian farmer rose early in the morning and first filled his neighbor’s fields; then he attended his own. He counted his neighbor more significant than himself; his looked to his neighbor’s interests as well as his own.
Soon the neighbor wanted to know the Jesus whom the farmer served as Lord and master. He was converted by seeing how the mind of Christ radically reordered the attitude and thinking of another man. Christ-like humility amazed him.
The Apostle Paul inspired such activity with his letter to the Roman church in Romans 12:14-21.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
One of the most difficult things for us as human being to do is to get over it when people do us wrong. It makes us feel justified to get revenge. In fact, some people believe it is their duty to make the wrongful party pay dearly for the injustice. One problem with “payback” is that we usually get it wrong. We don’t know what was in the heart of the person who hurt us. If we get them back, we may do too much or too little. Only God knows their heart and what they really deserve. That is why we should always leave it up to him.
But the truth is that evil will always exist in this world due to the existence of sin in the world. Besides that, we have our own imperfections and are undeserving of handing out revenge to another. That is why that when we deal with evil that is sent our way, we need to avoid revenge because when God is in our hearts, we should respond in grace and love. In so doing we overcome evil with good.
This Sunday we will share the final message in our BUT, GOD series. This one is titled, But, God Can Use Evil for Good based on the life of Joseph from Genesis 37-45. Hopefully, you will learn how that God can keep those bad things in life from defeating you. Plan to join us with this special story.
Your fellow overcomer,
Jon
Overcoming Evil With Good
Watchman Nee, the Chinese evangelist, tells this true story.
A poor, Christian Chinese farmer had rice fields high in the mountain. Every day he spent hours pumping water into the rice paddies; but when he returned to the fields the next morning, he would find that his unbelieving neighbor, who lived down the hill, had opened the dikes and drained the water to fill his own fields.
For a while the Christian ignored the injustice, but at last he became desperate. His rice would die if this continued, and this was his livelihood. So he gathered his church, and they prayed and discussed the situation and came up with a plan. The next day the Christian farmer rose early in the morning and first filled his neighbor’s fields; then he attended his own. He counted his neighbor more significant than himself; his looked to his neighbor’s interests as well as his own.
Soon the neighbor wanted to know the Jesus whom the farmer served as Lord and master. He was converted by seeing how the mind of Christ radically reordered the attitude and thinking of another man. Christ-like humility amazed him.
The Apostle Paul inspired such activity with his letter to the Roman church in Romans 12:14-21.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
One of the most difficult things for us as human being to do is to get over it when people do us wrong. It makes us feel justified to get revenge. In fact, some people believe it is their duty to make the wrongful party pay dearly for the injustice. One problem with “payback” is that we usually get it wrong. We don’t know what was in the heart of the person who hurt us. If we get them back, we may do too much or too little. Only God knows their heart and what they really deserve. That is why we should always leave it up to him.
But the truth is that evil will always exist in this world due to the existence of sin in the world. Besides that, we have our own imperfections and are undeserving of handing out revenge to another. That is why that when we deal with evil that is sent our way, we need to avoid revenge because when God is in our hearts, we should respond in grace and love. In so doing we overcome evil with good.
This Sunday we will share the final message in our BUT, GOD series. This one is titled, But, God Can Use Evil for Good based on the life of Joseph from Genesis 37-45. Hopefully, you will learn how that God can keep those bad things in life from defeating you. Plan to join us with this special story.
Your fellow overcomer,
Jon
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