What Should Be Done with Evil?
The constant battle of the “good angel” on one shoulder vs. the “evil angel” on the other is portrayed as the battle each Christian faces in the midst of daily life. Choices arise every day testing our beliefs and some of those choices challenge us more than others.
How should we handle the choices of good and evil?
The answer is simple but the actions are hard.
We should all put the evil out of our lives in order to serve the Almighty God, but the practical application might not be an easy one. Each person has desires and emotions towards things we may know are wrong but we wish to hang onto those a little longer.
God, knowing the deeds and thoughts of man, instructed the Israelites in the Old Testament to purge the evil from the camp. Consider these verse in your study – Deuteronomy 13.5; Deuteronomy 17.7; Deuteronomy 17.12; Deuteronomy 19.13; Deuteronomy 19.19; Deuteronomy 21.9; Deuteronomy 21.21; Deuteronomy 21.22; Deuteronomy 22.24; Deuteronomy 24.7
At least 11 times in the book of Deuteronomy, God wants the Israelites to purge the evil from their midst.
Looking at the above from a historical point, one can see how the relationship the Israelites had with God grew powerful when they listened to His words, then grew apart when the Israelites did not heed the words of God.
As the creator and provider for mankind, God knows and has seen man struggle with the battle of good and evil on a daily basis, hence God’s words to mankind to “purge the evil” from the midst. God wants the best for man so He provided words to hear.
The apostle Paul understood the influence of one person on the congregation of the saints. When dealing with a continual immoral-living person, Paul speaks of their influence when he says, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Corinthians 5.6; ESV). Paul knew that even one person’s example affects the whole group.
As Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 5, he says the leaven must be cleansed. Each person reading this understands that the evil must be purged from the group, because of the influence which will rub off on one another.
While one today may think Paul’s statement to be harsh, the history of purging evil goes back to the Old Law.
When evil is not purged from our lives, we become calloused to the emotions we once felt. To give you a modern day example, several years ago the hit television show, “Leave it to Beaver” was censored for showing a bathroom. Have you seen something worse than a bathroom on television today? Has our viewing of television calloused us to the things of the world once thought of as being appalling?
What do you need to purge from your life? What influences are not what the Lord wants?
Just some thoughts,
