August 20

Nehemiah 11:20-12:47
Psalm 102:1-11
Proverbs 20:22-23
Romans 12:1-21

Evil Is Bad for Us
Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.
—Romans 12:9

In considering the words “Do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one,” here we concentrate on “deliver us from the evil one.” Notice it is not a prayer for deliverance from this or that type of evil, but from evil itself. To Jesus, evil was evil in whatever form it came—whether in the evil of the flesh or the evil of the disposition, whether in the individual will or in the corporate will. Evil was never good, and good was never evil.

Someone has pointed out that the word “evil” is the word “live” spelled backwards. Evil, then, could be said to be anti-life. Non-Christians are finding out how not to live the hard way. They think they know better than God and follow a way of their own choosing, only to find, like the rats in the scientific experiments who go down the wrong path, that there are wires at the end which carry electric shocks. These shocks are of various kinds: neuroses, inner conflicts, as well as some forms of physical illness.

Society is concerned about a disease called sexual herpes which is spread through sexual permissiveness. God has made it impossible for us to live against His design or harm ourselves without His protest. And He protests because He loves us.

We can decide to have done with evil. The best way to deal with evil is to keep away from it, hence the prayer “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I say again, evil is bad for us, and good is good for us.

Prayer
My Father, You who made me for good, because goodness is good for me, help me to abstain, not only from evil, but from the very appearance of it. For Your own dear name’s sake. Amen.

Further Study
Gn 39; 1Co 10:6; 1Th 5:22; 1Pt 3:11; 2Tim 2:22
How did Joseph resist temptation?
What did Paul advise Timothy?

Every Day with Jesus Daily Bible – August 20