Resistance and Forgiveness

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

Evil is more powerful than us and if we resist it we will be overcome. But though evil is more powerful than us, it is not more powerful than real goodness. Therefore, we must not attempt to overcome evil ourselves through resistance but need to seek a clearer perception and connection with the Source of all goodness so that His goodness will flow through us as its channels and overcome evil.

But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. (Matthew 5:39)

Jesus tells us very plainly not to resist an evil person. If we do not want to be overcome by evil, it will not be accomplished by resisting evil people but by showing them the goodness of God who is living in us.

Unforgiveness is the poison of bitterness that contaminates many with cynicism and resentment and the desire for vengeance. On the other hand, true forgiving is releasing our resistance with those who have hurt us or may even be presently hurting us. Resisting authority then, can indicate a failure to forgive them.

Resistance always produces heat and pain and ultimately death. Romans 13 says that authority is a minister of God to teach us that resistance is painful and leads to death. The authorities may not act like God or be very righteous, but when we learn to not resist evil and live in proper relationship to authority, we also learn not to resist love which is an even more fatal problem.

This suddenly makes more sense. The shell that I build around my heart to protect me from pain is a wall of resistance in an attempt to not be hurt again. But that same wall blocks love from flowing in and out of my heart. This involves resistance, and resistance is one of the biggest problems we have as well as being our greatest liability in hell.

While not resisting, it does not follow that we need to surrender our spirit to be controlled by abusers. That would be to surrender to evil inwardly as well as externally. That is breaking the spirit. In fact, that is being overcome by evil, the very thing we are told here not to do. We can be overcome by evil by giving up our following after God because of hopelessness, and allowing evil to destroy us that way, or we can be overcome by evil by believing and indulging in its enticements and deceptions. We can also be overcome by evil when we choose to cling to our desire for vengeance and by not releasing our pain to Jesus who offers to exchange it for peace and a spirit of forgiveness.

Our spirit belongs to God and God alone. He is the one it was made for and for whom it really yearns for. But in our daily life we must be careful to not become entangled or trapped by resistance and thereby poison our spirit with bitterness.

One of the greatest faults or dangerous choices of resistance is to resist forgiving someone. When we resist forgiving someone we actually give them authority over our spirit and heart and allow them to hold us hostage in our mind. We often secretly, or not so secretly, want to see them suffer at least as much as we have and we deeply desire some arbitrary punishment for them. We somehow believe that we are justified in our unforgiveness until we think they have suffered or repented sufficiently.

But that is a lying illusion that will never bring us peace or satisfaction no matter how we feel. To make them suffer or enjoy watching their pain if that is possible, only amplifies the fleshly desires of our own heart and increases our thirst for vengeance and our sense of emptiness, but it never brings peaceful satisfaction like we hope it will. To refuse to forgive is to deface the true image of God from our souls and take on the character of Satan, the accuser.

Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. (Romans 13:5 NIV)

We must move beyond fear of punishment as our motivation for submitting to authority and see things through heaven's perspective. And from that perspective we begin to see the danger of resistance itself. Conscience is the voice of the Spirit reminding us of our need to own and then pass along to God the pain others have inflicted on us instead of reflecting it back to them or onto someone else. That is what is entailed in genuine forgiveness.

As I ponder these verses in Romans 13, willing subjection looks like a close cousin to forgiveness. We do not resist the pain or the evil but neither do we reflect it in a desire for vengeance; we pass it on to Jesus who takes it into the tomb where it can die with Him. As we choose to do this we receive resurrection power and life back from Him to pass on to those who are abusing or hurting us instead of the bitterness and pain and resentment that we would normally reflects back on them.

When we let down our resistant defensiveness as our shield of choice to protect our heart, and instead we take up the shield of faith – faith in Jesus' ability to handle any and all death-tipped missiles coming into our heart, we then will not suffer the ill effects of resistance but will instead began growing and maturing and thriving and become life-giving as we function more consistently as a channel for God's resurrection life. This is the abundant life Jesus offers.

Some have taught that it is very important that we spend at least an hour every day meditating on the life of Jesus and especially on the closing scenes of His early ministry. As I think about these things today I begin to realize that the reason this is such valid advice is because the closing scenes of Jesus life on earth are probably the best example known to humankind of what it looks like to forgive without conditions and in real time. Jesus portrayed the ultimate example of how God wants His children to respond to abuse, free of all resistance. To forgive while abuse is being carried out without any resentment or bitterness is truly a miracle of God.

But this is a miracle that must begin take place in every one of our hearts if we are ever to be prepared to respond positively when we all arrive in hell on the day of Judgment. And if we want to be found among those who glow with glory instead of sizzling from insanity, we must begin to practice today the skill of the heart we so much need to learn, that of complete release of all resistance to evil people. It is becoming more and more clear that our greatest danger is resistance itself.

Fear is a symptom as well as a form of resistance. That is why Churchhill during World War II proclaimed that the greatest thing we had to fear was fear itself. Fear is debilitating and that is one reason Satan is so intent on making us more and more afraid. Fear often also leads us to engage in more resistance as well as resentment. But these things will not bring us to freedom but will only tend to mire us even deeper into slavery of our spirit.

In God's kingdom we overcome by abandoning resistance itself and instead, trusting in the One who showed us how to do that by His own example and has promised to be our Justifier. By refusing to defend ourselves through resistance we open the way for our Covenant Partner and our Heavenly Father to justify us in His way and also bring great glory to His reputation. By overcoming evil with the goodness of God we also become the overcomers referenced in the book of Revelation.

He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. (Revelation 3:21)

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