God expects us to be strong enough to make the evil one frightened of our words and deeds.
George Gervin, around 1974. / Photo: J. Fitzgerald, Wikipedia, Public Domain
GEORGE GERVIN was the NBA top scorer for four seasons (1978, 79, 80 & 82) and the best player of the 1980 All-Stars (a match between the league's best players).
But back in the 1972 Munich Olympics he got involved in a fight with another player and he was dropped from his league team for good.
It wasn't until several years later, when everything had blown over and he was no longer a household name, that he almost miraculously found his way back into professional basketball. And all this happened because of a fight.
How often we almost lose our cool and blow a gasket! For many the mercury rises all too quickly.
Tragically, people have been killed when a mere nothing has escalated to blind anger. To get angry or not to get angry - this is the dilemma.
It's extremely difficult to make people see that giving like for like is almost never the answer. The only thing that is achieved is an unleashing of violence and revenge, both of which God categorises as sin.
Hitting back will not sort out the situation. It merely raises the temperature and triggers other reactions which often end in both guilty and innocent parties alike getting hurt.
The Bible says that self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. Self-control is exercised when someone can stay cool and not answer back with violence.
The history of mankind gives us many examples of self-control in action and when the person concerned was brave enough not to answer a violent attack with a knee jerk reaction.
God says we can get angry, that is take a stand against what is wrong, speak out clearly against the things that are destroying humankind... but never, ever sin.
God doesn't say we can't have a forceful or strong character. He doesn't stop us from having opinions and saying what we think, providing our words don't wilfully hurt someone else.
God doesn't expect us to be goody-two shoes, totally unconcerned about the bad things that happen in the world.
No, He expects us to be strong enough to make the evil one frightened of our words and deeds... but God also expects us never to do things that we'll need to repent of later on.
The Spirit of God is a spirit of self-control. We show we are God's children when self-control is in control. Don't forget, hitting back is not the answer.
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