October 2023
Steve Russo
What’s gone wrong in our world? Web sites, magazines and news programs are filled with stories of people at their absolute worst. Teenagers shooting their parents, mothers drowning their children, bombs going off in shopping centers…shootings on school campuses and in movie theaters…violence in our homes…bullying on the rise…fractured families…confusion, chaos, smash and grab burglary, dognapping, out of control wokeness and evil is everywhere. But why should we be so surprised about what’s happening – especially when we as a culture have been ignoring God’s principles for living clearly outlined in the Bible. We are a post-Christian culture and continue to disregard God’s basics for life.
The world today is far different than God’s original creation.
In the beginning of human history, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they brought evil into the world as a result of selfishness and rebellion. And throughout the ages this lawlessness has continued from one generation to the next. Our world is not in the condition that it should be – the way God designed it – because sin separates us from Him. Sin breeds wickedness which keeps us from experiencing God’s purpose for life.
Albert Einstein said, “I do not fear the explosive power of the atom bomb. What I fear is the explosive power of evil in the human heart.” God reminds us in Jeremiah 17:9 that our hearts are desperately wicked above all things and beyond cure. Our hearts have been inclined toward sin from the time we were born. Because of God’s great love for us He has provided a remedy for our sin in the cross of Jesus Christ and the power for overcoming wickedness in His resurrection.
Because God is ultimately in control, we don’t need to be pessimistic. He is eventually going to make a new heaven and earth that will be free from sin, sickness and evil.
In the meantime, as followers of Jesus, we have the responsibility to speak out – and do something – when evil appears to be overtaking ‘good’ and strive to live by God’s design. Ask the Lord to start using you right where you are as an instrument to help combat wickedness in our world.
