"But he did it first!"

Thoughtful Thursdays

I glance up at the pool to see my three year old son furiously splashing another youngster by leaning back and kicking his feet like a motor. I immediately stopped the activity, explaining that we don't splash others like that. It isn't kind. But my little guy felt completely justified.

"But he went like this to me!" And then he stuck out his tongue and spit.

And that's what we do. Someone spits at us, and we splash them back.

In yesterday's post, we talked about overcoming evil. We try to overcome evil with evil, but like Jay Adams says, you can't fight against evil with its own weapons. We need to use God's.

Blessings. Kindness. Love.

But what if you've been spit at and you don't feel very loving? All you want to do is splash back?

"Love is doing whatever good God says you must do for another, to please God, whether (at first) it pleases you or not. You must do so because He says so, and you don't wait until you feel like doing so. Love begins with obedience toward God in which one gives to another whatever the other needs. Love is not a gooey, sticky, sentimental thing; it is hard to love. Often, it hurts to love."

Jay Adams, How to Overcome Evil, page 35

The idea of overcoming means we don't just swim to the other side of the pool and ignore the person. We love them. It's an action. We overcome with good.

We can't do it alone. We need to be firmly tied to our Ultimate Lifeguard, the Savior of our Souls. Afterall, love comes from Him.