By Fenter Northern
SADLY, EVIL IS WITH US AND IS HERE TO STAY UNTIL THE LORD OBLITERATES IT WHEN HE RETURNS. SO HOW MUST CHRISTIANS LOOK AT THIS? NOT WITH THE FOOLISH WHO BLAME OUR GOOD GOD OF LOVE, SAYING, “IF HE IS ALL POWERFUL, WHY DOESN’T HE PUT AN END TO IT.”
Consider this: God is omniscient, man is not. God did not create evil, however, evil is the negative side of good. As long as there is good, evil is the opposite of it. Man was created in the image of God, however, man had to be given free choice to choose to love the image of clean spirit. Only by free choice of cleanliness (holiness) can man be a good being, qualified to live eternally in the holy (clean) environment of the eternal spirit with his immaculately clean Creator.
God knew He was taking the chance of man sinning when He gave him liberty to choose, but cleanliness has no value in life unless man can freely chose the good life over its opposite — evil. God wants his man to feel love and desire for righteousness, not just programed like a machine to do it without any feeling. There is no godliness without choosing that way of life from personal desire. God is not the author of evil; it is something that exists as the opposite conduct of right living. Evil exists because it is the inevitable counterpart of good. Because of this, the good God by grace warned Adam and Eve of the fatal consequences. Trusting His word was the preventive of death. If they disregarded His word…suffering and pain, which were a contradiction to the original dignity of man, would naturally follow. Man cannot mock the law of good and evil by satiating himself in undisciplined fleshly desires which were given him for his pleasure. To blame the Good God for these tragedies is a monumental error; for it impugns His character. Inspired men who died for righteousness sake, wrote, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” One is of the most benighted and estranged creatures on earth to blame God for evil.
WHAT YOUR CONFESSION OF CHRIST MEANS
I am speaking of your confession, not of those few audible words you made when you were baptized into Christ, wonderful as that was, but of the blessed life you chose to begin when you surrendered your spirit to the Spirit of God.
Confession of Jesus is to invite His Spirit to live within you (Read I John 4:15). Upon your confession, you become the most privileged person on earth.
WHAT DOES THE INDWELLING OF GOD MEAN?
It means the power that constructed the earth and holds this vast universe together is abiding within you to guide you into being a person fit to dwell in an eternal environment of righteousness. Heaven is a place where no creature there has a tinge of unholiness about them and by your confession of Christ you love and long to live in that place. So, here and now the challenge is before you. All the rough edges in your old character—the old temptations—are being overcome because God is within you urging you to set them aside as He molds you into a perfect, holy character, suited for eternal life with those of like confession of Christ. Good intentions are not just good intentions anymore, they are precious values to be exercised, dressing you up for an everlasting, clean, society of sainthood. When that meaning is grasped in its fullness a frightful exhilaration mounts within, an awesome recognition so that when you arrive at the portals of glory, you will look back at the world and say with Joseph of old—, “it was not you that brought me here, but God.
So, confessing Christ is not merely a onetime admission that makes one eligible for baptism, as essential as that is. It is a lifelong commitment to Jesus’ word. It is sometimes difficult but it if the difficult were not there, there would be no challenge for character improvement. Temptation presents the opportunity to confess Christ by abstaining from evil. Temptation comes to every Christian in all walks of life. To be victorious over it is character building, so rejoice, James says, when temptations gives you a chance to confess Christ.