• You who love the Lord, hate evil!  He preserves the souls of His saints;  He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.  (Psalm 97:10)

I hate evil!  It’s thoughtless, it’s being spiteful, it valueless; it’s all that I abhor.

So what is evil?

The dictionary defines evil as:

adjective:
1.   morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life.
2.   harmful; injurious: evil laws.
3.   characterized or accompanied by misfortune or suffering; unfortunate; disastrous: to be fallen on evil days.
4.  due to actual or imputed bad conduct or character: an evil reputation.
5.   marked by anger, irritability, irascibility, etc.: He is known for his evil disposition.
noun:
1.  the force in nature that governs and gives rise to wickedness and sin.
2.  anything causing injury or harm
Pick up a newspaper, a magazine, or watch the local news and you’ll see stories involving violence, murder, neglect, or apathy to do that which is “right”.
People wonder why bad things happen to good people.  Even the criminal justice slips and sends an innocent person to prison.   Bad things do happen.
The following scriptures reflects a parable that the Lord Jesus gave involving an individual who actually took time out of his own busy schedule to help someone who had been beaten and robbed and left half dead by the roadside:
  • 30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
  • 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
  • 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.
  • 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
  • 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
  • 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’
  • 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
  • 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”  (Luke 10:30-37)

Wow, a Priest and a Levite (holy men of God), both passed by and did nothing to help this beaten up man.

A Samaritan (who is a man from a tribe detested by the Jewish) didn’t even question the nationality of the victim.  He just took mercy and compassion on the man, actually helps him up and gets him a room to shelter him and pays for his stay until his return, promising to make up the difference on the expenses to the innkeeper with instructions to restore the injured man.

Whenever I heard this story, I always took it at face value, lending a helping hand whenever and wherever it’s needed.

At least until recently.  There is another layer, a spiritual layer, revealed here:  This is a picture of  the mugger, the thief, who is Satan; the victim is the church–you and I. The innkeeper is the Holy Spirit, and, of course, the good Samaritan is Jesus Christ who took mercy and compassion on the beaten, lost, the abandoned, the downtrodden, the loveless.

Jesus Christ, who paid for our spiritual necessaries, anoints us with the oil of gladness, and gives us wine (also representative of the Holy Spirit).

You’ll note that Jesus  says:  “when I come again, I will repay you.”  This is Christ in heaven until His return, then He dispenses judgment.

So I leave you with this thought:  “I am about my father’s business.”  Are you?

Are you ready/are you prepared to meet Him, the God who created you?

Let Your Living Waters Flow

by Jimmy Swaggart

Blessings,

___________________________________

SeashoreMary

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