Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 10
The speaker says the way to “attack the devil” is not revenge against a brother but active love (“love is something you do”), illustrated by buying Mountain Dew for difficult students as “sweet revenge”; what would “doing something loving” look like in your hardest current relationship (something concrete, slightly costly, and observable), and how might that expose whether you actually believe your real enemy is Satan’s division rather than the other person?
Another way to ask: In your hardest relationship right now, what is one loving thing you could do that is real, visible, and costs you something? How would doing that show whether you see Satan’s division as the real enemy, not the other person?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the speaker’s teaching, “doing something loving” means a deliberate, practical act of kindness toward the person who frustrates you—an observable choice that breaks the cycle of resentment. Doing that exposes your beliefs because it shows whether you see the other person as “the enemy,” or whether you’re fighting Satan’s work of division by refusing revenge and choosing love.
- Chrysostom: if you want enmity, “be at enmity with the devil and not with a member of your own.”
- God “armed us with anger” not to “thrust the sword against our own bodies,” but to attack the devil.
- The speaker’s key line: “Loving your brother is something you do to him.”
- Illustration: when frustrated with students, he bought them “44-ounce Mountain Dews,” calling it “sweet revenge” against the destructive impulse.
- He offers concrete options: “do something loving…say something good about them…begin to compliment that person,” as a way to “break the devil’s heart.”