Where Do You Draw the Line Against Evil?

   We all think that we have the moral courage to step up against evil.  “We would have never been Nazi’s” we tell ourselves and others.  We say this while we sit dormant to the evils around us, especially those in our own heart.  What the Nazi’s did was a terrible evil that we denounce, but with our lack of moral courage to attack the evils around us and within us when we are not threatened, it is pretty obvious that we would have been Nazi’s too.

   “That is preposterous!  Do not tell me, I would have been a Nazi!”  I get it.  It is equally uncomfortable for me as well.  The people that stood against the Nazi’s were either those directly under attack from the Nazi’s or those that had the moral courage to root out evil in their lives and to oppose evil around them before the Nazi’s.  If we lack that moral courage, we can be pretty sure we would have folded.  When we lack the moral courage under little to no threat, how do we expect to have the moral courage when under real threat?

   First and foremost, we must seek to root out evil in our hearts.  We all have this one thing that we know is bad that we cling to, commonly downplaying it to make us more comfortable.  YES!  That thing that the Holy Spirit just told you about.  And if it did not come to mind immediately, pause for a moment in silence and it will come.  Do not dismiss it!

   Now, we are going to need some supernatural help to root out this evil.  And so, Jesus gave us Confession, or as I like it called, Reconciliation.  Yes, we confess our sins, and thus our attachments to evil, but then Jesus does something extraordinary.  He removes the sins from our hearts.  After all, He is God.  We are reconciled back to the Family of God fully.  Jesus destroys the sins like He destroyed death and rose from the grave.  Nothing is beyond His power.

   When we root out evil, there becomes a hole in our heart where the evil was.  It must be filled.  Many times, we root out evil only to replace it with a lesser evil.  But why not fill that hole with Jesus.  He desires to love you and to be loved by you.  He does not destroy your sins only to have them replaced by lesser sins.  He wants to destroy your sins in order to give Him a place to reside.  The God of the Universe could have anything that He wants and He wants your heart.  Will you give it to Him?

   Jesus, help us to give You our sins in order that You may destroy them to make space for You in our hearts.  Give us the moral courage to root out evil in ourselves and in this world.  Amen.