Evil is not so bad???

Scripture Read: Judges 9:26–29 One day Gaal son of Ebed moved to Shechem with his brothers and gained the confidence of the leading citizens of Shechem. ²⁷ During the annual harvest festival at Shechem, held in the temple of the local god, the wine flowed freely, and everyone began cursing Abimelech. ²⁸ “Who is Abimelech?” Gaal shouted. “He’s not a true son of Shechem, so why should we be his servants? He’s merely the son of Gideon, and this Zebul is merely his deputy. Serve the true sons of Hamor, the founder of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech? ²⁹ If I were in charge here, I would get rid of Abimelech. I would say to him, ‘Get some soldiers, and come out and fight!’ ”

Application: When sin rules, those involved find themselves at the mercy of circumstances. Abimelech and the men of Shechem were deep in sin, and now that trend of circumstance continues and brings another set of characters that intensify the sinful circumstances. Gaal and Zebul become players. Gaal, as often is the case, starts by speaking words he has not really measured. Sin has a loud and braggadocios voice! We will see in the rest of this passage how sin drives the circumstances to betray all involved. But first let’s meditate on how evil works, I find that many misunderstand how it works. Many treat evil like an appetite...once satisfied it will cease. Unlike the appetite of our body, even though we can and do eat even after satisfied, at some point we have no choice but to stop because it is physically impossible to take any more in. 

Evil does eat solely for taste, but it is a bottomless pit. In fact, once it has tasted, its appetite expands exponentially! It will cobble everything up in its path, spit out the bones and look for more. Evil is the deadliest disease in the universe because it destroys both body and soul. Jesus warned His disciples about evil

Matthew 16:6 And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

They misunderstood and then He explained:

Matthew 16:11 “How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Why did Jesus warn them about the false teachings? Jesus understood how evil works. Paul warns us also:

1 Corinthians 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?

Galatians 5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.

Many times we think we can play around with evil. I know sometimes I do...when I am foolish enough to play with evil...I become evil’s toy! It plays me and this fun is no fun! Wisdom instructs us to stay far away from evil! By doing so our appetite for Holiness will increase!

Remember: The good things of life have to be paid for in advance while the evil things we do are paid for, generally on the installment plan."

Meditation Questions: What sins show up in your life on a regular basis? What does that mean? When you fall into sin, does it increase? What does that show you? How deadly do you think sin is? Why? Why Not? How close do you play with sin? Why? Why Not? If I were to ask you to give me some principles on how to stay away from evil, what would you advise me? Now looking at your advice, do you follow it?  What part don’t you follow? What should you do about that?