Be Not Overcome

Be not overcome by evil. Let not the evil of any provocation that is given you have such a power over you, or make such an impression upon you, as to dispossess you of yourselves, to disturb your peace, to destroy your love, to ruffle and discompose your spirits, to transport you to any indecencies, or to bring you to study or attempt any revenge. He that cannot quietly bear an injury is perfectly conquered by it. (2) But overcome evil with good, with the good of patience, forbearance, nay, and of kindness and beneficence to those that wrong you. Learn to defeat their ill designs against you, and either to change them, or at least to preserve your own peace. He that hath this rule over his spirit is better than the mighty. 

... those that revenge are the conquered and those that forgive are the conquerors. 

The above is from Matthew Henry's Commentary on The Bible, Acts to Revelation, Volume 6, page 375. 

I like to share the spiritual treasures I discover dear reader. Overcoming evil with good is paradoxical and counter intuitive: we humans cannot stand being slighted, and when we perceive an insult has been cast in our direction, it is a common reaction to want to retaliate and yet, this is not the godly way, this is not recommended for those that declare Christ their King, this, is not what the Saviour taught his disciples when he was in their midst. 

Let us have some fun with the excerpt above, shall we?

Evil is provocative and can overwhelm to the point of having power over you and I. Wait, what? Consider with me, the magnificently obvious to the naked spiritual eye truth, that Matthew Henry has pointed out for us - evil can:

Make an impression

Dispossess you of yourself

Disturb your peace

Destroy your love

Ruffle and discompose your spirit

Transport you to indecencies

Have you study (consider, plot, or plan), and attempt revenge

If you cannot quietly bear an injury, you are conquered

Does this describe what happens to you, when you have been insulted, when your character has been assessed and found wanting, when someone suggests you are flawed and without redemptive traits? 

Insults make an impression and can leave a mark. When insulted, a person can feel displaced, and think only of what hurt their mind, heart, and spirit, dispossessing them of themselves, and disturbing their peace. Self and other love is often destroyed in this process, and that unsettled, ruffling of the soul, can cause composure to falter and fray. The next part is the scary part: We can become indecent in our reactions and actions; swearing, cursing, accusing, returning insults, and wanting to injury the other by denigrating them. As if this wasn't bad enough, a vengeful person can and does, plot, plan, and attempt revenge... Do you know anyone like this? that not only nurses and nurturers their festering wounds, but gives themselves undiluted permission to speak of and justify, what they consider, sweet revenge.

If you cannot quietly bear an injury, you are conquered.

The Bible is instructive and gives us insights into God's ways. It has been suggested that God is cruelly vengeful, but I suggest to you, that he is long suffering in his holiness. Of course, I did not think of this myself, I learned it from his Word and personal experience. I have also learned that vengeance is the Lord's, and I am perfectly okay with God Almighty being in charge of commissioning justice, since his righteousness is unchallengeable. Our instructions indicate that we can save ourselves from the scenario Matthew Henry describes, and that I expounded upon. There is another way, and it includes: 

Overcoming evil with good

The good of patience and forbearance

Kindness and beneficence to those that wrong you

Learn to defeat their ill designs against you; 

To either change those ill designs or;

Preserve your peace

Having this rule (control) over your spirit, makes you better than the mighty

Jesus is our perfect example of a human conqueror that demonstrated Godly forbearance. We needed Someone to model for us how overcoming evil with good, looks and sounds. My favourite word in the short sentences of encouragement above, is the word Learn. We must learn the ways of God, because they most certainly, are not natural for the majority of people. Most people are inclined to retaliate when insult leads to injury, and to overcome evil with good requires a significant investment of processing the pain and suffering that may have been incurred, in order to put it in its rightful place, so as not to have the evil dispossess us of ourselves. Peace is the desired mind, heart and soul state, for Christ followers. 

Quietly bearing injury, makes you a conqueror. 

Here is the paradox:

... those that revenge are the conquered and those that forgive are the conquerors (Matthew Henry, Acts to Revelation, Volume 6, page 375). There is strength in forgiveness, turning the other cheek, and remaining peaceful even when provoked. Evil, do recall, is provocative, and evil is of the devil... 

You and I wouldn't want to act like the devil, now would we?

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us (Romans 8:37)