We live in a Fallen world, but don’t blame God for evil. Evil exists because of Sin! In other words, rebelling against God knowingly or unknowingly.
When we look at the world today, we can see a great deal wrong with it. There is evil in the world- poverty, disease, and crime. Yet when God created the world He said in the book of Genesis, “it was very good!”. What happened between God’s creation and the reality of life today? Show More
In the creation of man, God gave mankind a unique characteristic that distinguishes mankind from all of the other creations. That is the ability to recognize the difference between good and evil and make a decision. That is what the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden shows us. We get to choose our destiny and we as well as others reap the consequences.
Only human beings have a conscience, a moral compass as it were, to guide us to do the right things, those things that God intended to be a blessing for us. Instead, mankind has been bewitched by the Tempter, Satan to choose those things that seem pleasant, “to the eyes, to the flesh and to make us wise (the pride of life)”. This very strategy of Satan is the downfall of mankind; the reason that we live in a Fallen World! Many will mistakenly try to blame God for evil in the world and say things like “how can God allow this to happen?”, when in fact God is not the cause of evil. God is good!
God will never violate your free will because with it you can choose to love God and follow Him. However, your free will is a two-edged sword. You can choose to do right or choose to do wrong in God’s eyes.
“We have met the enemy, and they are us.”
This is a twist on Oliver Hazard Perry’s words after a naval battle when he defeated a British squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.“We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” The updated version was first used in the comic strip “Pogo,” by Walt Kelly, in the 1960s and referred to the turmoil caused by the Vietnam War. That statement could easily be used to describe the human condition. Our sin nature. Turmoil in the world is caused by people who do evil and the consequences of that evil impact innocent people too.
Trusting in our own ability to make the right choices based upon emotions, personal experience, and wrong thinking very often leads to wrong conclusions. All of this when rolled up into a package is what we mean when we see the scripture, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Technically to sin means to “fall short of the mark”! God establishes the mark, and we miss it time and time again.
Throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, God gives us over and over again examples of poverty, disease, and crime as the consequence of missing the mark! The root issue is that we rebel against anything that tries to guide or direct us even if it is for our own good. Human nature wants to be in charge of their own destiny. A term that is used several times in the book of Judges is, “they chose to do what was right in their own eyes”! This is the central issue of life. So, how do I choose what is right in God’s eyes and reap the blessing instead of the curse!
In my last post, Donna S. W. made a comment, “The book of Proverbs in the Bible gives us the outcome of bad choices! We rebel because of our sin nature! Only accepting Christ can change that”!
This comment reveals the truth that rebellion is part of our sin nature and the ONLY way to overcome this nature is to replace it with a new nature that only Jesus Christ can give when we repent and believe in Him.
The book of proverbs is one of five Wisdom books in the Bible- Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Solomon. There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs, a wise practice is to read a chapter of Proverbs each day of the month, and when you complete the month… then start over again.
Instruction for a successful life.
For the sake of this post the relevant scripture is found in Proverbs 3:5-13:
- 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
- 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil.
- 8 It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.
- 9 Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase;
- 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
- 11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction;
- 12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.
- 13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom.
I don’t want anyone to think that simply knowing what is right and wrong enables us to do the right and shun the wrong. Human history has shown that not to be the case. We need help and because the struggle is spiritual, we need spiritual help!
1 John 3:8 says, “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God (Jesus) was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil”. The works of the Devil is to lead mankind into sin, away from God. Remember the Devil comes to “steal, kill and destroy”, but Jesus came to give abundant life (Romans 10:10).
The Spiritual War- battlefield is in the mind
2 Cor 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
To know Jesus is to trust Him with and for your life. If you only know about Jesus, you will miss out on the work of the Holy Spirit in you. That’s the difference between a personal relationship with Jesus and simply knowing about Him.
Knowing Jesus as a result of making a conscious decision to believe Him and His teachings means that you are a new creation, the old has passed away, that’s 2 Corinthians 5:17. The Apostle Paul says to the Philippians in Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (His return)”.
So, the question of the day is; Do you know Jesus! Or do you just know about Him?
