Romans 12:2 & 21 - Overcome Evil with Good, Part Two

"Monkey see; monkey do."

Romans 12 gives very succinct advice and it's easy to see how it ties back to the rest of the chapter.

The last verse says: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Romans 12:21 (New American Standard Bible, 1995)

Or to put it another way,
"Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good." (New Living Translation, 2015)

Earlier, we looked at the first verse of the chapter, that overcoming evil starts by giving ourselves to God. (See September 22, 2021.) But the second verse gives another practical insight into how to overcome evil:

"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."  (Romans 12:2, NLT)

There are three elements to this:

1. My mom was fond of the phrase, "Monkey see; monkey do!"
Don't ape the fashions in clothing and cars, the hottest movie/vacation spot/toy, or even current PC thinking (according to whoever you think is correct).

2. Let God do the changing.

3. The change is internal: how we think.

Lord, as much as I want to be a better person, I can't make changes large enough or fast enough. So once again I open my mind and heart for You to change me into the person You want me to be. In Jesus' name, Amen.