Evil--as close as your face in the mirror

No one is good--except God alone (Mark 10:18).

What is evil? Some people define evil in terms of perversion—evil people get excited when witnessing pain or fear in others. Others equate evil to blatant disregard for another person’s rights—evil people don’t care about the repercussions of their actions. But the Bible defines evil in relation to God. God is the very picture of goodness; Jesus said: No one is good--except God alone. Anything that opposes God is, by definition, evil.

God’s laws look simple: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30). These are God’s Laws of Love. To disobey them is to do evil. But have you really thought about what that means?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Your relationship with God is to be your highest priority at all times. If God is most important to you, you would never skip church to stay in bed or go hunting. If God is most important to you, you would never let a day slip away without spending time together in conversation—listening to God by reading His Book and speaking to Him at length in prayer. If God is most important to you, you would dedicate as much time as you could to serving Him with your talents and generously support His initiatives with your money. Any time God gets less than your first and best, you are opposing His will—you are doing evil.

Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31). You are to treat the needs of others as equal to your own. You are to share unselfishly of yourself and your resources. You are to treat others as your equals, respecting their opinions and giving their ideas serious consideration. When you find yourself in competition with another person, you should be ready to compromise so that you both make out equally well. Any time you treat other people as inferior to yourself or give them short shrift, you are opposing God’s will—you are doing evil.

By God’s standards, we all commit evil acts, and we commit them constantly. Knowing this gives us a renewed appreciation for the forgiveness that God offers to us through His Son Jesus. We truly need the Lord’s mercy every day.