As a Christian do you believe that God alone is the only One who truly knows what is good and what is evil because He Himself exists as the eternal, unchanging Good, Truth, Love, Peace and Justice? Do you trust your Creator? Are you willing to submit your will to His will? Are you daily submitting your will to His will? Do you frame what is going on in our country with insight into what God says is good and what is evil, or do you frame it in “I feel, I think, I want, I need, I don’t like…or it’s my opinion?”
Do you experience yourself daily confidently, actively, and routinely saying “yes” to what you know for certain is harmony with God’s will, and “no” to what you know for certain is not?
My perception is that many of us who call ourselves Christians think and act like it is we who determine what is good and evil. Many of us sympathize with and support people, parties, and organizations who murder babies and police officers and others; who believe they have the right to loot, intimidate, and destroy people’s property. Lots of us even agree that they should not be arrested or held accountable, and we support politicians who promote this obvious evil. What is the matter with so many of us?
Do we no longer believe that we Christians are the light of the world and salt of the earth? Have we forgotten that our Lord’s Church is the fortress and foundation of truth in the world?
So how can a Christian know beyond any shadow of doubt if something, no matter what it is, is either good or evil? It’s not difficult if we believe our Lord and act on what He says. When asked what the most important commandment from God is He said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength (in other words “with your entire being). And then He added another one “Love your neighbor as yourself” (neighbor being anyone who is within the sphere of your influence).
Loving God with our entire being is about living in “the yes” to God’s good and perfect Will and “no” to anything that distorts or denies it. Loving your neighbor as yourself is about promoting and defending anything and everything that is true about being created in the image of God, and strongly opposing whatever denies, desecrates and seeks to destroy it even if that is something a person wants. In other words, it means loving others in very same way their Creator loves them. To love God and neighbor requires being a lover of what is Good, True and Just and that is God. If we choose to live in the “no” we will not be able to love God, ourselves or our neighbor. Being the presence of good, truth, love, peace, and justice in the world really is a matter of “yes” or “no.”
I’m encouraging my brothers and sisters in Christ to step up and shine as light in the world that is so full of darkness, and to be salt in the midst of so much rottenness and decay.
