Good Is Hard; Bad Is Easy
My youngest and I were discussing his behavior the other night, and he asked a great question:
Later, while at work, I was sharing God's good news about having a relationship with Him with a young lady who had come for some financial help. During that conversation she asked the same question, only her question was based on some much more serious struggles and choices, lies the enemy had convinced her of that were destroying her.
We live in a world at war. The war isn't with the media, or with "evil politicians," or even with people promoting a variety of morally & Biblically wrong behaviors. According to Paul in a couple of his letters, we're wrestling and fighting with evil beings that are spiritual in nature - demons, servants of Satan, fallen angels (Eph. 6 for example). There are other factors involved, of course, including our propensity to do bad things. But even that goes all the way back to our nature, that was corrupted by sin, which was originally introduced by Satan, and is a result of our choices not to trust that God has our best interests at heart.
Anyway, I suppose this is too short a post, and this blog too narrow a venue to go into all the ways evil influences our world, but, in a nutshell, that's what I told both my son and this young lady. Evil is at work, fighting against us in ways we can't see, making it difficult to do what's good, because Satan's goal is to destroy anything that is of God's nature. And, when we are tempted to do evil, Satan is right there, cheering us on, endeavoring to help make it happen, thus making it easier. Our need: The Spirit of God in us to give us the ability, tools, and strength to fight to do right, and to overcome those tempting thoughts and evil desires. We really can't do it apart from Him. Even when people do what's right and good, but don't have His Holy Spirit in them, it's because He's at work in the back ground in a variety of ways, totally unknown and unseen, but at work, none-the-less.
There are deeper waters to explore here, no doubt, but I thought I'd post about the topic because my youngest son brought it up. Children have a way of keeping things simple, if we let them.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
"Why is it so hard to be good, and so easy to do bad?"
Later, while at work, I was sharing God's good news about having a relationship with Him with a young lady who had come for some financial help. During that conversation she asked the same question, only her question was based on some much more serious struggles and choices, lies the enemy had convinced her of that were destroying her.
We live in a world at war. The war isn't with the media, or with "evil politicians," or even with people promoting a variety of morally & Biblically wrong behaviors. According to Paul in a couple of his letters, we're wrestling and fighting with evil beings that are spiritual in nature - demons, servants of Satan, fallen angels (Eph. 6 for example). There are other factors involved, of course, including our propensity to do bad things. But even that goes all the way back to our nature, that was corrupted by sin, which was originally introduced by Satan, and is a result of our choices not to trust that God has our best interests at heart.
Anyway, I suppose this is too short a post, and this blog too narrow a venue to go into all the ways evil influences our world, but, in a nutshell, that's what I told both my son and this young lady. Evil is at work, fighting against us in ways we can't see, making it difficult to do what's good, because Satan's goal is to destroy anything that is of God's nature. And, when we are tempted to do evil, Satan is right there, cheering us on, endeavoring to help make it happen, thus making it easier. Our need: The Spirit of God in us to give us the ability, tools, and strength to fight to do right, and to overcome those tempting thoughts and evil desires. We really can't do it apart from Him. Even when people do what's right and good, but don't have His Holy Spirit in them, it's because He's at work in the back ground in a variety of ways, totally unknown and unseen, but at work, none-the-less.
There are deeper waters to explore here, no doubt, but I thought I'd post about the topic because my youngest son brought it up. Children have a way of keeping things simple, if we let them.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
posted by Pastor Paul at
7:41 AM
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