Read
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Romans 12:14
Reflect
One of the hardest things Christians are asked to do is love people who don’t love us back.
It’s easy enough to pray for the friend who encourages us, the family member who supports us or the person who treats us with kindness. But what about the person who makes life miserable? What about the bully at school, the difficult coworker, the neighbor who seems determined to cause trouble or the person who has decided for whatever reason that they simply don’t like us?
Jesus didn’t leave us much room to wonder what we’re supposed to do.
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” (Luke 6:27)
That’s a much higher standard than simply refusing to fight back. Jesus calls us to actively seek the good of people who may be seeking our harm.
And He didn’t just teach it. He lived it.
As He hung on the cross, surrounded by people who had mocked Him, beaten Him and nailed Him there, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34a)
His followers learned to do the same thing. As Stephen was being stoned to death, he prayed for the very people who were killing him: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (Acts 7:60)
Most of us will never face anything close to that kind of persecution. But we will encounter people who hurt us, insult us, mistreat us or make our lives unnecessarily difficult. And when that happens, anger can feel justified. Revenge can feel satisfying. We may even begin hoping that the person who hurt us gets a little taste of what they deserve.
Paul gives us another way.
“Repay no one evil for evil,” he writes. And then, near the end of today’s passage, he says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17, 21)
That doesn’t mean we have to pretend that someone’s behavior is acceptable. Praying for a bully doesn’t mean allowing the bullying to continue. There may be times when we need to establish boundaries, report wrongdoing, seek help or simply get away from someone who is causing harm.
But even while we do those things, we don’t have to hate them.
That’s where prayer changes something—not necessarily in the bully at first, but in us. It’s difficult to continually bring someone before God and, at the same time, feed our hatred for that person. Prayer reminds us that vengeance belongs to God, justice belongs to God and even the person who has hurt us is someone Christ came to save.
Evil wins twice when someone hurts us and then convinces us to become hateful in return.
So pray for the bully. Pray for the difficult coworker. Pray for the person who has wounded you. Ask God to change them, certainly. But also ask Him to keep their actions from changing you into someone you don’t want to become.
Because sometimes one of the clearest ways we can show people Jesus is by refusing to let their hatred determine how we love.
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Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
