Good & Evil - 01

The debate over man's inherent evil or goodness is nothing new. I will just say that goodness, the character and nature of God, does not originate with man. God did create man with the capacity to receive, practice, and grow in goodness. I believe we were all created in God's image with the innate ability to know right from wrong and do right or wrong. How else would free will be possible?

I keep thinking about why when a man who knows the right path will often intentionally choose the wrong path. Why would we seek to tear down our life and other's lives rather than build up? There are a number of reasons for this, but I want to highlight just one today.

In a sense, evil is the absence of good, like darkness is the absence of light, or cold is the absence of heat energy. Evil is the disruption of God's plan, the incorrect ordering of nature or the movement from order to chaos. Good is creative and brings order to unformed and unordered nature.

Think about the Holy Spirit hovering over the chaotic waters to bring forth an ordered dwelling place for humanity. Think about the raw unformed wood and other materials that Noah transformed into an arc through obedience and the God-given ability to create. Through this good act of obedience, God formed a space of order and deliverance in the midst of the chaos of destruction.

Good is life, evil is the absence of life. Good sustains life, evil is inhospitable to life.

Here is the one point for today. We tend to do less good or create less good with our words and actions as we move away from good. The closer I am to the light, the more I will reflect the light. The more I open my heart and mind to receive all God has for me on a daily basis, the more I will give out the good. When I miss those opportunities to walk with God, to hear his voice, and be filled, I will choose the wrong path more and more. I am unable to do good when I am empty. Emptiness is unformed space. Emptiness is uncreative and unproductive.

Have you felt that emptiness pressing in on you at times? The longer we wait to be filled again, the harder it is to make right decisions for your life. We were created to be filled with good, to stay filled and reproduce that good in the world around us.


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