The Present Evil World
[Jesus] who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.
Galatians 1:4
In Luke 18, Jesus told of the self-righteous Pharisee who said, “God, I thank you that I am not like all other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector” (v. 11). The Pharisee kidded himself into thinking he was something, when he was not. But the tax collector, whom the Pharisee looked upon with scorn, saw himself as he was, and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (v. 13). Jesus said, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
How can we get our values right? How can our warped judgment be straightened out? Some tell us that education is the answer to these questions. Prove to people that crime doesn’t pay (they say) . . . that illicit sex is psychologically harmful . . . that alcohol and drugs are harmful to our minds and bodies . . . and they’ll wake up and stop doing them. But experience repeatedly demonstrates that this doesn’t work. Programs of social and personal reform are launched continually. Are they the answer to evil?
Others say that science is the answer. Science, supposedly, can make a clean bomb or a harmless cigarette. It can cope with the problems of drugs. Science, they say, can tap the brain of man and alter his desires.
But the Bible, which has withstood the test of time, tells us a different story. It says that we are possessed of a sinful, fallen nature, which wars against us, that seeks to destroy us. Paul said, “I find this law at work [in me]: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (Romans 7:21). Evil is present to cleverly disguise itself as good. Evil is present to control and deceive us. We are not at peace with ourselves or with God. That is what the cross of Christ is all about: to reconcile us to God and to give us a new nature.
Our Father and our God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I truly want to do what is right and good in Your eyes, but evil is always there with me. I am weak and sinful, O Lord. Yet I thank You for Jesus, who will deliver us in triumph over sin, the devil, and evil. Thank You for the cross, which reconciles me to You through Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).