Bearing Evil without Resentment

Recently I have been wrestling with the following verses and how to apply them in my life, the life of the church and within our community.

24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

The context of these verses is this: Paul instructs his spiritual son, Timothy, on how to relate to troublemakers within the church. I want to focus on the instruction of “patiently enduring evil” or another way to translate this verse “bearing evil without resentment.”

What kind of evil is Paul talking about?
Paul describes these troublemakers or false teachers as the following in 2 Timothy 3:2ff:

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

This is a description of folks within the church and obviously an extremely dangerous, harmful and somber problem. So Paul encourages Timothy to bear with this kind of evil without resentment. We are not to hold grudges against them. We are not to be quick to take offense but quick to forgive. We are to forebear with them in hopes that they may turn from their evil and find a true and real relationship with Jesus Christ. I don’t know about you but that is the last thing I want to do when people personally sin against me. I confess this even at times with my own family. I am tempted to get even by responding with unkind words or holding it against them for a while. I don’t naturally want to bear with those who hurt me with their words or actions.

So how do we really bear evil without resentment? What will empower us to relate in this way when faced with similar evil?

I believe that it is impossible apart from an active and dependent faith on Jesus Christ. The ultimate beauty of this verse is that it points us to the Cross: Jesus bore all kinds of evil from humanity when he suffered and died on the cross. His own family and friends rejected and denied him; his peers laughed at and made fun of him; Roman guards severely beat him by a spiked whip; and ultimately His Father removed his presence from him on the cross and received His wrath and punishment we deserved for our sins and evil against God. He did this willingly and in radical love. Instead of being resentful in bearing this evil, he delighted to do this so that He could display God's glory but also to bring us in a right and acceptable relationship with God.

We see in Jesus’ life and death how he identifies with us for he experienced and understands the pain we face when evil is done against us but we also we see in Jesus that He bore all the evil stuff that we done to him (we all stand guilty of committing evil, we all rejected and betrayed him). Through Jesus’ work on the cross, He forgives those who confess this evil. He does not hold grudges against us. He forbears with us. Through faith in Him, He actively works in us and enables us by His Spirit to forgive, forbear and patiently endure without resentment with others in our lives. No, this is not easy nor does it come naturally to us. I know that for many there are many barriers we need to work through to even come to the point of wanting to forgive and forbear. But the hope for all Christian is this: God has given us all the resources we need in Jesus Christ to believe this grace for us and to apply this grace to others.

Let me be clear, this does not mean that we excuse or ignore the evil done to us or that we may become best friends with those who caused the evil (but in God’s powerful grace that could happen). But it does mean that as we depend upon the sufficient grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, we will not let the evil destroy us or have power over us. We can experience healing and strength to move on in our relationships and not let the pass evil ruin our current or future relationships. Christ’s death is that powerful for us!

I think of George Washington Carver, a well-known African-American scientist who developed scores of products from the peanut. Dr. Carver was also a humble servant of God who took every opportunity to speak to others about the Savior he loved and served.

During the 1920s, members of the YMCA and the Commission on Interracial Cooperation asked Carver to address white student audiences at colleges and universities in the South. Carver, realizing that there may be many in the audiences who were racist and thought ill of him, gently and kindly spoke to them about the beauty of the gospel and how Jesus invites all kinds of people into a relationship with Him. You may ask: How could he stand and speak to these white audiences in such a way? I contend as he actively depended upon His Savior who loved him, the Spirit of Jesus Christ enabled him to bear evil without resentment.

May God give us His grace!

Warmly,

Jeff