I have been reading this book called God's Not Dead, by Rice Broocks. Amazing movie which lead me to the phenomenal book, which is the evidence behind the movie. I must say the way the Author brings the details of God's existence and His will for man is obviously God revealed! I am currently reading in a chapter entitled "Good and Evil are No Illusions." In this Chapter the Author address the question "Why Doesn't God Remove Evil From the World?" As I was reading I was picking up all kinds of knowledge and insight for myself. Here's a quote that I enjoyed:
"By creating beings that were spiritual and not physical and giving them the right to choose as well, God gave the possibility for unseen evil to exist. Somehow these beings have the capacity to inflict harm as well as inject disease into the human condition. By allowing free will into the universe, God knew He would give these creatures the option to commit evil, but He prepared us with spiritual weapons, insight , and prayer to combat the evil"
Reading that quote I automatically think about Luke 10:19 where Jesus says; "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." And also Proverbs 16:19, "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps"(ESV).
These scriptures and this revelation from the book really showcase how lovingly amazing God is! Skeptics and those who choose not to believe in God will quickly try to discredit His existence because evil exists. But this shows us that if we are to have free will, then a person can choose evil and the fruits of evil choices will grow. But on the contrast we also have the choice to choose good, and because of that choice fruits of our good works are manifested as well! There is as much good going on in the world, and MORE so than evil. Evil unfortunately gets more attention by our media and dumped into our laps everyday all day if you choose to entertain it. Also, our choice does not remove the divine intervention of God to guide our steps as Proverbs 16 states. God will allow us to make chart our own way and He is there monitoring with divine interventions. If your heart chooses evil and
continue to reject God, then you are turned over to your desires to do that Romans 1:28. (God doesn't assist you in evil but He'll let you have it, along with its impending doom) If you choose righteousness then grace is given abundantly to you to serve the Lord and grow in godliness 2 Pet 1:5-8. The good news is evil will not always exist. God has already defeated evil by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Right now is our chance to make the right choice. Will you choose Good or Evil? Remember God doesn't want Robots. So you have to make a choice.
Sure He could have created all of us to bow down and obey His every command but where's the love in that? God is love, and love should be a two way street. He wants us to love Him back. What person in their right mind would want people to love them because they have been programmed to? No one, because we understand that its not love at all. That is like knowing your children or spouse only shows you love because you made them do it. Deep down that would bother anyone, we want our children/spouse to love us for real! This attribute exist in is because it exists with God, and He shared it in us!
One day we will live in a world where evil does not exist. Here is another quote that I loved from the book: " By allowing evil a momentary presence in human existence, He not only defeated it on the cross but also will ultimately remove it forever. Because of this, in eternity, we will be able to exist with our free wills intact without the presence of evil."
So we will not be robots in heaven either! Some may say, why not create it this way from the beginning? Well, He did! Check out the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He also gave angels free will, and some rebelled, and they are fallen Jude 1:6. He gave Adam and Eve a choice and they chose to disobey which brought evil into the world Genesis 3. Thus our need for a savior. Evil will be destroyed, and if we choose God now, we are choosing to live in a future world where evil does not exist. It is the perfect world! God is brilliant.
No comments:
Post a Comment