Romans 12:21

Goodness means excellence of character. Someone has defined it as "virtue equipped at every point," which simply means that the person possessing it is kind, virtuous and righteous in every area of life.

Goodness is the opposite of badness. A bad man may be deceitful, immoral, treacherous, unjust, cruel, selfish, hateful, covetous, and/or intemperate. The good man, though not perfect, exemplifies truth, justice, purity and other similarly desirable traits.

The Apostle Paul...

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21

If this verse had been written by uninspired men, it would have said, "Don't let people walk all over you. Give them back a dose of their own medicine." The world thinks in terms of retaliation and of revenge.

But we learn a different lesson in the school of Christ. We should not allow ourselves to be overpowered by evil. Rather we should use good to defeat evil.

A story attributed to Francis of...

Romans 12:9-21

Our love should be sincere, "without hypocrisy," as Paul says. A hypocrite is an actor. He pretends to be what he is not. We are not to live in this way - merely pretending to love people, speaking to them kindly words - while bitterness is in our heart. Our life must be as good as our speech, our heart as...