We can overcome!

Evil has a way of showing up in large and loud and destructive ways.  It seems that evil isn't content to be small and unobtrusive.  And when it comes in such large, overpowering doses I wonder what are we to do?  

I'm imagining that many are wondering what is going on in our world right now.  Why do such terrible, horrible, unthinkable things happen?   What is the world coming to?

I heard those questions posed from many sources after the tragedy in Connecticut.   I, myself, was tempted to wonder what are we to do.  I prayed that God Himself would put an end to the madness, that He would come quickly to snatch us away from this world of senseless evil.  I have carried a heaviness inside of me that has brought me to my knees and tears to my eyes.  And I have wondered is it possible to survive in this insanity.  I have wondered how God can be glorified in this mess.

Then God spoke: 

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

 (Romans 12:21).

But I asked: 

"How can we come up with enough good to overcome THAT evil?  How can smiling at the grocery store cashier counterbalance the pain in a mother's heart somewhere in Connecticut?  What is a insignificant small town Nebraska empty nest homemaker to do?  

And God answered:

"Do good."

As I have pondered this conversation I have concluded that the Evil One shows up in loud and explosive ways because he is so desperate.  He wants me to think I can't win, that I can't stand up against such "power".  He wants me to panic and feel hopeless, to roll over and play dead.

But God says, 

"Don't panic.  Just do good."

He wants me to remember that He has already won. 

 "I have overcome the world"

John 16:33

There is no reason to panic.  There is hope because the Evil One has already been defeated.  And He wants me to know that as an insignificant small town Nebraska empty nest homemaker there is something I can do.  

Be Good!  

Every act of kindness and goodness I share each day is more powerful than the "atomic bomb" of the Evil One.  And when we all work at this together our deeds of kindness accumulate and the effect of each one is magnified and overcomes evil.  Jesus spoke this very truth.  

"In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."  

John 16:33

And what overcomes the world and all the evil that seems to be overwhelming?  

Do Good!