Home > John Shirk, Staff Pages > Relationship Building Principle-Returning Evil With Good
avatar

Relationship Building Principle-Returning Evil With Good

July 2nd, 2015

JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Relationship-Building Principle comes from First Corinthians 4:12.

Being an apostle of Christ required great courage and love in the early church. Paul the Apostle wrote, “We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly.”

The Apostles of the early church were serious about applying Jesus’ command to ‘love our enemies.’ Another person who lived out this command in a powerful way more recently was Elisabeth Elliot. She died recently at the age of 88. Elisabeth Elliot dedicated part of her life to serving a group of people who lived in a remote area of Ecuador. She reached out in a spirit of peace to the same people who killed her husband, Jim Elliot in 1956. Instead of seeking revenge, she sought their salvation. The Lord worked through Elisabeth Elliot’s extraordinary love and dedication to reach the unreached with the Gospel. According to an article in Christianity Today, the tribe that was considered one of the most violent in the world would see a 90 percent drop in homicides over the next 20 years. This is what can happen when God’s people seek to overcome evil with good.

Returning human hatred with God’s love is a vital relationship-building principle to take to heart in the Year of Connection.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com




  1. No comments yet.
  1. No trackbacks yet.