Good and Evil

Did you know there is no such thing as cold? There is only a lack of heat.

Did you know there is no such thing as darkness? Only a lack of light.

These are scientific facts.

Did you know there is no such thing as evil? Only a lack of God. The devil is completely lacking in any part of God at all. Humans are created in God's image. We have some shadows of the likeness of God. When you choose God, you choose good. When you choose not-God you choose evil. There is no neutral. Only God and evil. Every human, no matter what their upbringing, no matter who their parents, must make that choice for themselves.

I can't explain why things happen in our lives. I know much of the bad that happens is the result of people choosing to deny God. Micheal Pearl in “Divine Design” states it something like this: God is capable of sinning against us. He could behave in a selfish, cruel manner if He chose to. He chooses not to. He created us in His image. If He had not given us the ability to sin, to choose selfishness and cruelty over love and goodness, we would have been no more than chimpanzees. We had to have a choice in order to be in His likeness; to fulfill His desire to have someone like Him to love Him.

We all choose to deny God at some time or another. This has negative consequences on all those around us. It also separates us from God, as evil is a lack of God. In eternity we will all receive just what we have asked for in this life. Those that choose to have a lack of God in their lives will be totally removed from all aspects of God. They will exist in pure evil. Hell. Those that choose to have God in their lives will have total God in eternity. Pure presence of God. Paradise. (That last part is from one of Hubby's sermons:-)

In the 1800's, doctors would go straight from performing an autopsy to delivering babies without washing. It was common for half of the women in a delivery ward to die from post-natal infection. If these doctors had followed God's command to Israel in the Mosaic Law by washing and staying separate for a time after touching the dead, hundreds of women wouldn't have died. Notice, the women did nothing wrong. They did not disobey. Yet they died. When we choose to not listen to God, often others suffer. This seems so unfair to us.

I don't understand. But I do know that there will come a day when all the wrongs will be righted and everything will be squared up. There IS eternal justice. ALL wrongs will be paid for. Yes, those sins that I have committed WILL be paid for. They are horrible sins deserving of the greatest, most awful punishment. But you know what? My sins have already been paid for. You know the story. “He paid the debt He did not owe; I owed a debt I could not pay.”

Jesus said "Whatsoever you do to the least of these my brother, you do it unto me." When we are cruel or selfish or even just indifferent, it is as if we were beign that way to our Lord. If we treat everyone like we would treat Jesus, imagine what a wonderful world this would be.

You have a choice, my friend. You can continue to be a victim for the rest of your life. You can let things in your life give you the excuse to behave without God. You can keep your eyes on people. But people will fail you every time.

I know people that have made this choice. They have no friends, no family (at least none that can stand to be with them), no nothing. They are getting sicker and sicker. Every few months they are diagnosed with a new illness, especially a mental illness (let's see, depression, chronic fatigue, manic depression, obsessive compulsive, diabetes, heart disease, etc.) Poor them. Sad them. Every Christian they meet turns on them. No one likes them. No one is Godly enough to rescue them.

There is a different woman that was in much the same state plus drugs and all that entails. She chose to change her path a couple of years ago. She is heading towards God instead of away. Today she has a fulltime job, friends, family, and a ministry, is off all of her mental meds, was told by her psychiatrist she no longer needed her, in short her life is getting gooder and gooder, or should I say Goder and Goder? No one was Godly enough to rescue her either. Only God is Godly enough.

Ultimately, you can't blame anyone else. You have to make your own choices. Will you choose to be a victim? Will you choose the religion of humanism (human worship) or will you choose to be a victor? It is all up to you, friend.

To live without God is to try to be God

All of us have had enough bad things happen to us to 'justify' the poor me's; the anger, the depression. God is seeing who will really trust Him. Who will really choose to love Him no matter what. Imagine someone telling you, “I will love you as long as you do everything I say and act exactly as I want.” That wouldn't be real love would it? Yet many of us who say we love God, treat Him just this way. God loves us no matter what. He wants real, unconditional love from us, too. He wants us to trust Him that He really does know what is best, has it all under control and it will all work out in the end. He wants us to look at Him, not our parents, lovers, friends, children, neighbors, politicians, teachers, social workers, counselors, scientists, etc.

I painted a picture once. A girl is walking on water, with her hands in her pockets and her eyes straight ahead. She is not bothered by the big waves or the on-coming storm. She has her eyes fastened on her goal. You can't see the goal, but you can see the reflection of it in the water under her feet; a Cross. This is what life is like when you choose God. You see only God, not the storms of life. Only His love shown through the Cross. Oh, you could see more. But you choose to only see Him.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is keeping on keeping on, no matter what life throws your way. When you stand before The Throne, you will not be able to say "It is my mother's fault. It is the mean people at church's fault. It is my lover's fault. It is my teacher's fault. It is society's fault. It is my politician's fault, it is my boss's fault." It will boil down to the choices YOU have made.
But you know the most wonderful thing about it? Jesus is sitting next to you right this minute waiting to take you in His arms and hold you. If you let Him, He will hold you while you snuggle into His lap. He will reassure you that it is all right and He will take care of you. Oh, things will not be perfect immediately (or ever, really, until heaven). But you will not be alone. He will hold you in the hard times. Hold your hand or even carry you if that is what you need. I could FEEL Him carrying me when I had a miscarriage. It was three months before I could feel my "feet" on the ground again, and then just barely. He was still supporting me for a long time afterwards.

He doesn't care how fat or skinny we are. He doesn't care how smart or dumb we are. He doesn't care how much money we have. He knows that this outer shell isn't the real us. It is the person inside He cares about and He knows that person can be beautiful. All we have to do is trust Him and He will make us beautiful.

Oh, we will have to work too. You don't jump out of a broken plane and say “God save me.” First you put your parachute on, jump, pull the string and THEN trust God to take care of you. You have to do all you can, too.
Before you go to bed tonight, get your Bible out and read one Psalm. Just one. When you wake up say “Thank you God for the clouds, the trees, the flowers, that I am still breathing, and for my thumbs.” Even if you don't mean it, just try it for one week. Just for me. You will feel better. God will speak to you. Maybe not in an audible voice. Maybe through the clouds or a bug crawling across your floor. Maybe in a dream. But He will speak to you.

Within The Heart Of Every Living Soul,
Is A Great Big Giant God sized hole.