Ramblings for Retirement – Do Not Allow Evil to Prosper

Ramblings for Retirement – Do Not Allow Evil to Prosper
By Lee Hemen (retired pastor)
January 11,2021

When Jesus told the crowd that the “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5 NIV)” He never meant for the believer to roll over and allow evil to prosper. He was speaking to a crowd of people who understood what it meant to live under the hardship of Roman rule. The meekness He was referring to here was neither weakness nor spiritual blindness. There are those in the Christian community who are ready and willing to try to fool you into thinking that as a believer you should just roll over and pray and everything will be okay. This is simply not true and is frightening in its ignorance.

Jesus went on to develop what He meant when He continued by telling the crowd that day: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:38-45 NIV)” However we need to look closer at what he meant and realize as Christians we are not called to sit around and sing Kumbaya while the world burns down around us.

Jesus wanted His followers to focus on Him and not the world. Our faith and trust is to be in Him and not politicians. The crowd that day had no power, no political pull, and could do nothing about their circumstances. In America we do have political pull and power because of the Nation we live in and can do something about our circumstances. We should never return evil for evil by doing evil but we can and should resist evil in any form period. When Jesus spoke of not resisting an evil person this is exactly what He meant. We are not to be evil in our response; instead we are to be different. The crowd that day was not made up of believers and Jesus was not speaking to believers, He was talking to a poor crowd of people looking for hope in a hopeless situation who were Jewish prisoners in their own country. If they dared try to stand up to tyranny they would have been crushed and later they were. Jesus was trying to get the crowd to say and think, “How in the world can we do that? It is impossible!” Yet a time would come when they could if they placed their faith and trust in Him as Messiah.

As His followers of Jesus we are to understand that God sends the rain on the just and the unjust but we are never to put up with evil and use the excuse we should be meek and weak in the face of it. It was weak-willed and cowardly believers that stood by and allowed millions of Jews to be exterminated in Nazi Germany, purges to be conducted by Communists, and for evil to prosper. Turning the other cheek does not mean we should not speak against evil, speak up for freedom, and reveal evil when we see it. Peter did this when Jesus was being tried and convicted and ran away ashamed of his actions; will you? Never forget that the disciples were all martyred (murdered) for their willingness to stand up against the evil of their time and for their faith. Perhaps you would do well to read about how some of these men were martyred because they stood up against evil. Believe me they did not roll over and claim “meekness” as their motto. We can love our enemies and still expose and stand up against their evil. Paul stood loud and proud before Festus and Agrippa and we can certainly stand up by praying, by witnessing, and by being the believers God has called us to be but we must also be willing to go the extra mile by standing up against evil, encouraging others to do so, and fighting against those who would want to take your faith and turn it into a pathetic shadow of what it was meant to be. To do otherwise is to allow evil to prosper.
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This article is copyrighted © 2020 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.