By: Yonas

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.””

‭‭John‬ ‭3:19-21‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Everyone who has a good sense can agree that the world is a dark place.  We just have to turn on the news to confirm that reality. There is so much evil happening all around us that it’s hard to see anything good. There is theft, lying, cheating, and killing, just to name a few. The known evil we hear and see in the news media is outrageous. Yet we know in a world like this the unseen and unheard evil is even much worse. So in a world like this, what is the proper response?

Many people have accepted this reality and have become numb to the evil that is all around them and even contribute to it greatly.  They subconsciously or consciously have accepted it as the natural order of this world. They say the way to reach the top is to get in the game and play by the same rules. They have no problem or concern engaging in the same evil activity. They embrace the evolution theory model of survival of the fittest as the standard of approach to evil. For this group, there is no limit to how far they can go to survive and thrive in this world.

 On the other hand, some have used this world as a way to confirm their own superiority and righteousness. They tell themselves I have not murdered anyone or been in Jail for anything; I have not stolen money or sold drugs. Therefore, I am a good person who contributes to society. They point fingers at the bad to reaffirm their feelings about themselves. They point fingers at others to downplay their own failures and shortcomings. For these people, everyone around them is the problem while they are good people. They are so focused on the evil of others that they never really deal with the evil that is within them.

These two groups of people dominate the social fabric of this world. Of course, you may have different extremes and spectrums in between, but these two groups are what you will see most.  The groups will look at each other as vastly different.  They suppose they are opposite people, but the reality at the root is they are the same. They both have not rejected evil or seen it the proper way.

On the surface, they look different and do things differently, but at the root they don’t deal with evil but continue to add to it. The first group has directly embraced evil as a way to get ahead in society. They found that cutting corners is the only way to go. The second group has embraced evil as a way to affirm themselves and give them confidence in their own righteousness. Now there is a third group that we have not covered, and that is the Christians.

The Christians are in an entirely different position than the other two groups. This group acknowledges the presence of evil in the world. But they don’t just stop there; they acknowledge the evil that is within themselves. But they don’t just stop there either; they denounce evil altogether. They acknowledge the start of evil within themselves and working its way into a bigger scale into society. Because of this foundation, they can approach evil in the right way.

This group is better positioned to deal with evil than the others because they have observed the world and themselves in the reality of how things are. They have understood that embracing evil will not only serve them, but it will destroy the functionality of society. They know that this was not the initial design of the creator. Evil was not something that was present from the beginning, but it is something that crept in later after a perfect creation.

This group is not just stuck pointing fingers at others or living to commit evil to get ahead. They live to do good even when others do wrong to them. They don’t live to add to the darkness but live to expose it and show it for what it is. They are called to be a light in an otherwise dark world. They are called to be the salt in an otherwise decaying and corrupt world. They themselves are not superior in any sense, but they see themselves as people who have been given a second chance and a new life by an all-good God.

Christianity deals with evil comprehensibly because at its foundation there is a Holy and Righteous God who hates evil and will one day eradicate it completely. Jesus is the way that evil is finally handled and dealt with. Jesus is the answer to the biggest problem in the world. But the biggest problem in the world starts in much smaller scale at the individual level. That’s why Jesus calls each person at an individual level to come and believe in him. And by believing in Him, they have found the truth about themselves and the world around them. By believing in him finding the path to life.

Jesus invites you, and I see to see how God has dealt with evil. God has dealt with evil on the cross by sending His Son to punish the evil that you and I have committed and continue to commit on a daily basis. When we put our trust in Jesus, we accept the reality that we are part of the evil that exists in this world. When we believe in him, we confess that there is nothing we can do to bring about good. When we take hold of Christ, we proclaim God’s way and God’s law as altogether lovely and good and ourselves as having missed that mark.

Jesus is the answer to the Evil in the world, but most importantly to the evil within us.