THE PROBLEM WITH EVIL

 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

Ephesians 4:17-19 (NIV)

                As a part of my daily devotions, I have been reading Dallas Willard’s book, The Spirit of the Disciplines. In my reading today, he asked the question, why are we always surprised when bad things happen? Whenever there is some tragedy, our first response is to ask why. We often respond with; I can’t believe that happened. Yet evil things happen all the time. Why are we continually surprised by them.

                If we follow the logic of evolutionary thinking, we should expect bad things to happen as a normal course of action. Of course, we can’t call them bad. They are the outcomes of the evolutionary process; the survival of the fittest. The strong should dominate the weak. The powerful should control what goes on. And yet, when these things appear in real life, we have this uneasy feeling that they should not. We see them as wrong, even though in theory there is no absolute standard of right and wrong.

                One of the big reasons we are surprised by evil in our world is that we have lost our awareness of sin. As a society we have done everything we can to mask sin as something else. People do not sin today; they make bad choices. Sin is relative, depending on the point of view of the person. Sin is not objective, but subjective. In some circles, it is a sin to even mention the concept of sin. It is unloving and judgmental.

                Another reason that we struggle with evil is that we see it as something outside of ourselves. Evil is always what bad people do, not what people like me do. There is something unnaturally wrong with people who engage is evil activities. By making sin something “out there”, we take away any responsibility we have to deal with the root cause of evil; sin. We also place ourselves squarely in the position of always being the victim of evil, never the perpetrator. When some horrendous evil comes to light, we are quick to say, I would never do that!

                The Bible tells a completely different story regarding evil. Evil is the child of sin, and we are all sinners. Evil is not something out there that we don’t have any control over. Evil is resident within us, waiting for the opportunity to emerge when the conditions are right.

                James makes it crystal clear that if we are ever going to deal with the problem of evil, we need to begin with ourselves.

When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
James 1:13-15 (NIV)

                The birthplace of evil is within each of our hearts. When sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, evil took up residence within humanity. Evil is a part of our sinful, fallen nature. It is our natural response to situations where we feel entitled, wronged, or envious. Again, James confronts this unpleasant reality head on.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:1-3 (NIV)

                The cause of all the evil that occurs in our world comes directly from our selfishness and pride. We want what we want, and so we will take whatever action is necessary to secure it. We should never be surprised by the evil in the world. In large and small ways, it is resident in each one of us.

                But we do not have to despair. Evil does not have to have the final say. In fact, there is a solution to the problem of evil in our world. That solution is not found in new laws or social programs. It is found in the transformation of individual hearts.

                Jesus came into the world to set us free from the power and control of sin in our lives. Through his death and resurrection, the power of sin has been broken. When we turn our hearts away from the world and toward Christ, we are set free from being slaves to sin. But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:17-18 (NIV)

                We now have the power to do something about the evil in our world. We cannot only resist the power of sin and evil, we have been empowered to live in a totally different way. We can now live in harmony with God. To do this though, we must be intentional about how we live our daily lives. We need to recognize the influence of sin and evil in us and refuse to give in. Instead, we need to continually give ourselves over to the control of the Holy Spirit. Not just in our thinking, but in our very actions.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Romans 6:11-14 (NIV)

                As we yield more and more to the Holy Spirit, the influence of sin and evil in our lives diminishes. Although vestiges of it will remain, our power to resist will increase.

                But we can take our battles against sin and evil one step farther. In fact, we need to. Evil is a personal issue, but it is also a corporate issue. We cannot afford to fall into the trap of spiritual isolation, where we shut the doors of our lives to the outside world. We have been called to be salt and light in our world. Jesus wants us to be a positive influence that counters the natural tendency of evil within our society. We can do this by intentionally living differently, counter-culturally. We can choose to relate to those around us with love and compassion. We can overcome evil through good.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:17-21 (NIV)

                As individuals we cannot tackle the problem of evil in our world, but we can tackle the problem of evil in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our places of work. We can be a part of a spiritual resistance movement that sabotages evil one personal interaction at a time.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Colossians 3:12-14 (NIV)