So, if we’re not to resist the one who is evil but we ARE to resist evil and specifically the Evil One … how does this play out in real life? How do we resist evil without resisting the person who’s embodying that evil?
I’ve mentioned a few times that a dear friend of mine has had to walk this out in ways that have amazed me time and time again. I’ve seen her navigate the difficulties of this very thing, and it’s given me such a beautiful example. I’d love to share with you a bit of her journey.
There’s another person who’s spoken at length on this topic, you might be a familiar with him 😉
…love means understanding goodwill for all men and a refusal to defeat any individual. And so somehow love makes it possible for you to place your vision and to center your activity on the evil system and not the individual enemy who may be caught up in that system. And so you set out to defeat segregation and not the segregationist. You set out to defeat the evil system of communism and not the communist. And there is a great deal of difference there. And there must be an active love for the individuals who may be caught up in an evil unjust system while we continue to work passionately and unrelentingly to do away with the system itself. (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, sermon from March 7, 1961, “Loving Your Enemies“)
Join me here for Episode 19 as we learn how to be FOR people while being against the evil that so often works in and through them…
About the Kari Patterson Podcast: We need wisdom, y’all. Like, yesterday. Right?! We need God’s perspective. We need His heart. We need joy, resilience, clarity, and conviction. Feeling this need, author Kari Patterson opens Scripture and shares candidly how God’s Word informs her daily life. Appropriate for all ages, relatable and refreshing, join Kari for conversations on responding to unkindness, emotional freedom, parenting dilemmas, self-pity, forgiveness, and more. (Available most of the places you enjoy podcasts, including those with links above.)