(Discipleship) Jesus Overcomes Evil (Isaiah 5:20; Romans 12;21) (Guidance)
How many times have we been eager to identify the villain and hope that he or she gets a just punishment? We pride ourselves in making judgments that reveal who is evil and who is good. And we never show up on the evil side. We do our best to impress. But one of the hardest words from Jesus lays this problem of evil right at our doorstep. “If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). So Jesus knows that we are evil. And we cannot fix what is broken in our hearts for He also says out of our hearts come what is evil (Mark 7:21). But our hope is not in how good we think we are. Our hope is in the one who makes a deal with us…Jesus takes our evil into Himself and makes it His own. In exchange He gives us His goodness. And whenever we are eager to find evil in our neighbor, Jesus gives us this added gift. We can ask forgiveness for our evil thoughts…for our evil way of comparing our goodness with someone else’s evilness. In 1 John 1:9, Jesus promises us (through John’s writing)…”if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just (not like us) and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all evil (unrighteousness).” That’s peace on earth and good will to all!!!!
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