Guard our hearts with all diligence, the word of God says because out of our hearts flow the issues of life. Over and over I am learning that this call to action is an everyday commitment as we live on this earth. I am also relearning that guarding my heart is not restricted to the content I consume or the kinds of friends I surround myself with. It also encompasses the ways we internalize people’s actions and reactions toward us.
I am taking painful lessons in this journey through life and my walk with Jesus Christ. I am learning over and over that Jesus Christ is the only one who makes a difference in people’s lives. I am learning that no matter how much good I do for people, they are capable of repaying me with evil. This is possible because they are not dominated by the same Spirit that I possess; the Spirit of God that was upon Jesus Christ and empowered Him to do good everywhere He went regardless of the way He was treated.
This past week, I literally was giving way to evil to overcome the evil that had been done to me. I had been treated badly by my colleague consecutively all week long. A colleague with whom I have been everything but evil. His actions left me extremely dumbfounded! It took me on a spiral journey from shock, to heartbroken, and finally anger. “If he could treat me this way, he definitely never liked me and he could probably kill me, I thought to myself severally. My anger began to fuel my reactions towards him; straight face, ignoring his jokes, short and curt responses to his questions. I made up my mind that he could not just brush all that he did under the carpet – it was going to be tit for tat.
But my Jesus will not allow me to act like a child because of some silly actions of a man who doesn’t know what he is doing and is probably dominated by the spirit from the pit of hell. The Lord reminded me of His response on the cross as He watched the people He gave His all to castigate and judge Him with disdain. He asked the Lord to forgive them because these evil people knew not what they were doing – Luke 23:34. He did not stop there, He also spoke to me through a drama ministration at church today. He basically told me not to allow something so trivial to steal my energy, joy, and ultimately all of His blessings for me.
And for this reason, I am writing to you today. I am writing to you who may be fuming with anger or drenched in hurt because of all the evil that people may have done to you or your family. I understand that every form of hurt has a landing spot in our hearts and the longer we allow this hurt to linger, the more it spreads to the rest of our bodies and the core of our bones. And when this happens, such a person cannot help but emit evil non-stop. And that is how the cycle of evil continues to spread. Trust me I know what it feels like to be hurt, it is extremely hard to show the perpetrator love after all he/she might have done. But the thing is, with the help of Jesus Christ who has gone through even worse, we can overcome evil with the love of Jesus Christ.
Just as Jesus Christ points out in Luke 23:34, these people who perpetuate evil do not know what they do. The devil only uses them to perpetuate his evil in order to turn God’s people away from God. I believe that it is necessary that we harm ourselves with this knowledge and also remind ourselves of this knowledge daily or as much as we need to. When we do this, it helps us look past the evil actions while we allow the Holy Spirit to work inside us to do God’s perfect will in such a situation. Furthermore, when we internalize and process evil done to us through our flesh instead of through the Holy Spirit it only spurs up springs of bitterness, hate, and the like.
I trust that the Holy Spirit will expound these few words of encouragement in heart and He will continue to help us live above evil in Jesus name.