Submitted by Pastor David Shadinger, Rock Port United Methodist Church

Historically, a couple of everyday products have shown extremely intuitive design – like pencils and scissors. Scissors are scissors, no matter what is being cut: cloth, paper, sheet metal, etc. Ignoring mechanical pencils, it is also hard to improve on the design of a basic wood pencil.

Yet, printing words on a pencil can be tricky. Someone once applied the anti-drug message “Too Cool to Do Drugs” on a wood pencil. It looked fine until the pencil was sharpened and shortened to read, “Cool to Do Drugs.” When it was repeatedly sharpened, the phrase became “Do Drugs” and finally just “Drugs.” Not so cool.

In the first century, the apostle Paul had some innovative ideas about being a true Christian. He shared his thoughts with the followers of Jesus in Rome, using words as surprising today as they were back then.

Paul encourages us to do the opposite of what people expect of us, especially when we are criticized or attacked. Instead of fighting fire with fire, Paul says, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14). Unfortunately, most people respond: “Don’t get mad, get even.” Heaping curses on evildoers is acceptable behavior in many faiths and cultures. Nevertheless, Paul says, “bless them.” The Christian design is to offer good to a persecutor instead of counterattacking, or evening the score.

The innovative design of Christian life is to overcome evil with good, instead of fighting evil with evil. The apostle Paul challenges us to do the opposite of what people often expect: to bless instead of curse, to practice daily acts of love and sacrifice. It is a brilliant lifestyle design that is never finished and one we need to work on every day.