Why God allows the good and the bad to grow together

Did you ever wonder why God has allowed both good and evil to exist within the realm of humanity? Again we go back to creation when Cain, a person who had evil content within his power, killed his brother Abel within whom signs of righteousness appeared to exist. No matter how we attempt to live peaceful lives there will always appear an evil attempt to disrupt our freedom to live honorably and find that we must defend ourselves in ways that are not conducive to a peaceful person.

We may always question the Lord’s purpose of allowing evil to take an upper hand when one swipe of his hand could eliminate one who seeks to inflict evil upon others. The prodigal son from Luke’s Gospel didn’t inflict bodily harm on his father, but absolutely created an emotional hardship upon him. Events like this happen every day and at times the perpetrator isn’t aware of the harm he is creating.

Free will is among the greatest gifts God has endowed us with and without it we would become like robots waiting for the next move that God instills within each one of his creatures. The ultimate result would make each one dependent upon God’s next string pulling us toward the result he desired. We would become like punch and Judy in a street show void of any positive action from us and God didn’t want us to be like that. A laughing stock of ill-gotten puppets never really desiring to live a free life with God that never would appreciate our creator.

When we sin God is never ready to pounce upon us punishing each according to his disobedience. That is why the many parables of Jesus always shows a never-ending forgiveness from God giving us multiple chances to redeem ourselves and appreciate each second of life he gives to us.

Many ask why he will not punish sinners instead of dining with them and treating each one like a long lost friend. That is exactly how he sees us. A friend who is lost and now is found. Therefore, once we have drifted away he will search and bring us back on his shoulders.

The multitude of public enemies that have brought innumerable disasters upon our planet, been guilty of millions of deaths because of their greed, disrespect for human life, and an insatiable desire to rule the world if that were possible, are always given an opportunity to find God and seek his forgiveness. The probability of that occurring is slim, but God does the same for you and me. We often think their sins are the worst, but all sin before God is a rejection of him and Jesus died on the cross for everyones’ sin. That is reason enough to just ask for mercy for each of us, individually.

Ralph B. Hathaway, Forgiveness is for each of us by just asking.