Paul is calling us to order and had warned us about what is likely to happen in these last days. “But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God …” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
To what extent has the world drifted from God’s set standards for living? Permissiveness has permeated every nook and corner of our society, and no one should feel safe. The situation was so bad then that our Lord Jesus remarked that “it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment” (Matthew 10:15) when compared to the present generation. What an indictment!
Our world has been turned upside down and is getting out of control and yet we fail to perceive the immediate threat to our sanity and our moral values. How very true this is of this generation. Amidst all these goings-on what is our reaction? Are we not alarmed by the breakdown in moral standards on all fronts? What do we intend to do about it? The Palmist advises not to be a party to it but to “Turn from evil and do good.” (Psalm 34:14)
All throughout Scripture, God repeatedly condemns evil and calls upon all who declare to love Him to refrain from their wicked ways in order for them to live much longer. He expects that “those who love the Lord will hate evil.” (Psalm 97:10)
Those who delight in evil will end up destroying themselves because, says the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans chapter 2 verse 9; “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil … but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good.” Nobody has ever dabbled with evil without receiving the due recompense for his/her works.
Queen Jezebel was renowned for her wickedness. Once she threatened God’s prophet Elijah after the latter had killed 450 false prophets of Baal with, “May the gods deal with me be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow ‘I do not make your life that of one of them.’” (1st Kings 19:2) At this, the prophet fled for his life. She met with a terrible death after she was thrown off a storey-building and dogs devoured parts of her body. (2nd Kings 9:33-35)
Dear Reader, the Lord God Almighty is a good God. He loves His creation, but He hates evil, and He is too pure to look even at it. Through the writings of the prophet Isaiah, God warns: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him … for He will freely pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)
Evil is a product of the mind, it is generated from deep within, manufactured in our thoughts and our thinking processes. It has to be combatted with love, if we are to make the world a better place. Evil is repulsive, borne out of callousness to the word of God which requires that we “hate what is evil, cling to that which is good.” (Romans 12:9)
Our Lord Jesus prior to His crucifixion prayed to the Father for His disciples, asking that they be protected from the evil one. (John 17:15) In our Lord’s prayer He taught us to pray “deliver me from evil.”
“Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22) the Apostle Paul exhorted the Thessalonian Christians. Evil is not just an atrocious deed we see perpetrated against our fellow beings; indeed, it comes in diverse forms and is basically what is contrary to the commandments of God.
God is asking you and me, “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 94:16) He expects His “people who are called by my name, [to] humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2nd Chronicles 7:14)
