Nothing will rid evil from the hearts of men and women except an authentic, powerful encounter with Christ. Even then, it’s a toss up. Remember, we can't legislate evil out of people, because evil is not restrained by laws. Evil does not ask permission. Evil doesn't care. Reasonable people can agree to try and restrain evil, but often our efforts only drive evil underground. That’s all.
It’ll still there in people.
Still alive.
Waiting.
Brothers and Sisters, we have better weapons to combat evil than mere laws (2 Corinthians 10:3-5), so let’s point to the better, higher way (1Corinthians 13:7-8a). Go ahead and march, protest, and post, but remember to start from a clean heart. Start with getting rid of the evil in you, first.
As a former pastor and chaplain with two police agencies, I can assure you, there is not only evil—real, personal—in the world, there is evil in the church too. Starting from the pulpit. And why is there evil in the church? Because it’s in me and in you too. The Bible changes no one who does not orient their life to the true, the good, and the beautiful.
The battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man. —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
So here’s a modest proposal: let’s repent shall we? Let's clean up our lives before we tell everyone else how they should live theirs.
Let’s do the work of expanding the influence of Jesus after we’ve examined our lives in the white hot holy loving light of Christ, and then, we can speak—from our lives—to our culture from a grateful, healthy, loving heart (Psalm 51) instead of a self-righteous, arrogant, condemning heart.
Brothers and Sisters, it’s bad out there. Evil takes so many forms: trafficking children, wars, (public and private) addictions, violence, stupidity, hunger (physical and spiritual), and hatred. The church—all of the church—is the hope for a dying world, but only if we are actually living our faith and keeping our moral code.
Get your feet washed [John 13:1-17] and get to the work of healing this world.
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