“Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Romans 12:17).
“Mrs. Durham? This is Tom Chanley calling. I am the principal of the middle high school and something has taken place today that has come to my attention, and I know you will want to know about it,” he said. Carley’s heart was in her throat. “What could Erick have done that would ever warrant the principal calling?” she instantly thought. Mr. Chanley continued, “It’s nothing bad. It’s something that is, well, it is downright good. We’ve got a young man in school who is coming to us from a pretty rough home. I can’t go into details, but it is not good. He’s been acting out a lot. Last week no one actually saw it happen, but we’re pretty sure that this young man tripped Erick intentionally in the lunchroom. Today this same kid was tripped by someone else in the lunchroom. It was a mess. I wanted you to know that Erick got up immediately, and according to reports that I’ve gotten, put his hand on the kid’s shoulder, helped him get his lunch picked up, and invited him to sit with him. To be honest, I think I might have been tempted to just think that the kid got what he deserved. But not so with Erick. Just wanted you to know that I appreciate him and wanted to tell you about the incident.”
For today: How will not recompensing evil for evil work out in your life today?