About understanding and coming against evil…
Matthew 7:20 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean.' 21
For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,
murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
23 All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean.' " (NIV)
We all have the tendency to not see what we do not want to see. We all have the
inclination to ignore what is unpleasant. We all want to look the other way when we see
ugliness. When it comes to evil, some people are so caught up in the grip of evil, evil is
all they want to see. Some people are so caught up in evil they live in evil and do not
want to even hear the name of God mentioned except in vain. For those of us who live for
and love God, we would never think of trying to understand evil. However, we must
recognize evil is the enemy. Evil is the adversary that wants to destroy us, destroy our
family, destroy our way of life, destroy our churches, and destroy our lives. For us to
ignore evil is to fall into the hands of evil. For us to ignore evil is to ignore the
causes of sickness, death, sin, and disease in the world. We must try to understand how
evil works so we can guard against it and if possible, destroy it. Just as the FBI, local
law enforcement, and our national government seek to understand evil, so must we. When we
are wise to the wiles of Satan, we can build the defenses of love, mercy, forgiveness, and
holiness to take away satanic power. When we are tempted and tortured in our souls by
evil, we must know how to defeat the evil that wants to take us down. Even when we do not
want to look at what evil is and what evil does, we must remember evil does not want us to
see, know, or understand evil. For evil does its work in darkness where no one can clearly
see. However, the Light and Love of our Savior gives us strength, courage, and wisdom to
know the truth…the truth that sets us free.
