Good things for all men

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. – Romans 12.17

Goodness seems like such a simple thing. But maybe it is not all that simple.

Verse 17 gives a positive and a negative aspect of how we are to treat others.

On one hand don’t repay anyone for their evil with your own evil.

On the other hand have a regard for good things in the sight of all men.

Here Paul repeats what Jesus said when He said that if someone strikes us on one cheek we are not to him them back, but to turn the other cheek.

That flies in the face of what society says and it flies in the face of what we normally would do.

Some folks, even Christians, respond with something like ‘That’s just make any sense. It must mean something else’ and just ignore it.

Nevertheless there it is – how do we deal with it?

I like the way Martin Lloyd-Jones deals with this. He speaks of a whole change of attitude here. The phrase ‘have regard for’ means that we are always to keep how we can do good for others is mind.

Don’t worry so much about yourself; even if someone does evil to you you need to be looking out for ways to do good to everyone, including the evil-doer.

We have to ask ourselves where our focus is – is it on our own good or the good of others? The teaching is clear. There are more important that than a slap on the cheek. What is more important is an attitude of doing good no matter what. Do we have that kind of attitude in our daily dealings?