Repaying Evil With Good

Journey to the Celestial City #54. In our continuing look at John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” today we find the man, Christian, and his companion, Faithful, having brought the Town of Vanity into a frenzy, the great one of the Fair calls for an examination of the men. As pilgrims interested in the Truth and journeying to the heavenly Jerusalem, the two are judged to be “bedlams and mad” and then the mistreatment begins. They are beaten. They are besmeared with dirt. They are thrown into a cage. There they are “made the object of any man’s sport, or malice, or revenge.” And how do Christian and Faithful respond to all this? Any guesses? And we are to remain patient in suffering as followers of Jesus. And we are to repay evil with good. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us that we are enabled to handle abuse like Christ. “Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me.” (Matthew 5:11) “[G]reater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4b) “‘But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:20-21) More to come in the next blog post. Check back soon. (To read this entire blog post series, scroll down to “Pilgrim’s Progress Series” in the left sidebar.) pp 84