Don't try this at home

Psalm 34:14 (NIV)

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.



The lord can deliver us from evil...
...The lord can redeem us from evil

But he doesn't remove us from evil!

For as long as we're in this world, evil and our own flesh will always be present.

Jesus instructs us to pray that God will deliver us from evil. Praying that God will show you malicious and malignant actions from others including your own is part of our spiritual growth. When we are unable to perceive or recognize evil God will allow us to see it. Seeing evil parade about in the light of day gives us a stark wake up to the depths of human perversion.

What happens to you when you see footage of the 9/11 terrorist attack?
Disgust, anger, resolve, sadness and more... all describe the feelings that decent people have at the images of evil.

Evil teaches. From profound to
simple. Evil has a way of
making an impact that leaves
an indelible impression on our lives.

We are instructed to never ever do that or allow that again. We glean from
wicked conduct how not to act. Whenever I meet someone who has
twisted behavior I come away with gratitude that I had parents who
taught me better. Evil has a way of showing us the dark side of life
without God, without morals, or no virtue.

Years ago I pastored a man and his wife who had several children. The father and I were
fairly close friends. I was impressed with his parenting and
complimented often his mild manner toward his children. One afternoon
he confided in me that his father was the meanest man he ever new. As
a child his father beat him regularly. He cried as he told me the next
part. One evening, in a rage, he watched in fear as his own father
murdered his mother.

His point in sharing this with me was that from his horrific childhood
experience he was determined in life to not repeat the sins of his
father.

We see evil and we say to ourselves, "I don't want to be that guy!"
God works in mysterious ways. Evils lessons are profound. We vow to
never forget when we are confronted with vile actions that rattle our
senses.

If not but for one purpose: that we may look in the mirror and say.
"I don't want to be that guy."

"Lord, deliver us from evil!!"

iPhone

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Keith Brake

Image
Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. And the place was shaken...WOW We all need these moments of transfiguration. Times when God makes an appearance leaving no doubt that you are where you're supposed to be doing exactly what is pleasing to Him. God moments...! They happen every day. All day. In big and small ways. The small moments may bring a smile. The huge bring tears. We can fathom only handfuls of the mountainous otherwise we look only for big and miss the multitude of God moments happening all around us. One of those gigantic events happened Sunday. Over 50 of us were jammed into the small hospice room of our beloved LIFE group teacher of 25 years. Cancer had left him unable to communicate. Final days of life's struggle are approaching. Lynn's request for Keith was to have his class meet by his bed, on Easter Sunday, a...
Read more

Go For It

Image
One of the most heart rendering experiences I've ever had occurred on a mission trip to the south pacific. My niece came with me along with a dozen other workers. We arrived at the airport in Manila Philippines for our return flight to America. My niece reached for her passport...and it wasn't there. One thing for certain, you're not getting on an international flight without a passport. It was lost on the bumpy ride to the city. She had everything, but not quite! Everything.. but the most important item... which gave her right of passage. At that point, nothing else mattered. I recall her weeping on my shoulder, "Uncle John, there going to keep me here forever". How God bailed us out of that jam was amazing and a great devotion for another time. What I'm reminded of from this is the story of the rich young man that came to Jesus in Matthew 19. He had everything and had kept all the law. He would have been like the Bruce Wayne of Palestine. He had money, ...
Read more

History or His Story

Image
Sitting with an old friend, catching up with lost years, I asked if he had heard from past aquaintances. His response was, "Thats in the past. I don't live in the past. I'm looking forward." I knew exactly what he meant, and so did the Apostle Paul. Philippians 3: 13-14 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus Someone said, "Dont look back, unless you plan to go that way." I appreciated my friends comment. Mistakes, failure, and regret had been pestering me all week. Presently God was doing many remarkable things all around me but an unhealthy consciousness of past history was preventing me from enjoying the present. I needed a little reminder about straining toward what was ahead. To err is human. To forgive is divine. Th...
Read more