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I’m Not Concerned About The Evil In The World

  I’m a bit worried we have gotten a little too obsessed with
how bad the world is.  I hear so many discussions about how bad things are getting, so many posts about warning about this wicked new twist, so much indignation over a famous person’s wicked behavior.  It seems that some Christians spend most of their time watching the world so they can report on it's behavior.  It has become an almost voyeuristic pastime to look at the world and comment on how wicked it is.

Of course its wicked, it is the world. Do we really need to be told that?

   I understand we get concerned about these kinds of things because we want our country to be better and are worried about the future for our children.  But we need to remember the world has always been the home turf of the devil (1st John 5:19) and will always be.  Wickedness will be around us no matter how hard we try to avoid it.

  Consider what we read in 1st Corinthians 5:9-13,:
I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.  But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one.  For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?  But those who are outside, God judges

  We know we are to stay away from evil people and behavior, but as long as we are in this world, we are going to have to wade through the muck it creates. God is going to deal with the wicked world.  Rather than focusing all my attention on those that are outside, I would be much better off turning my focus inward.  When we look at the crumbled ruins of the world, if makes our own nicked edges look like much less of a concern.  We are not however going to be judged by the standard of the world but according to the standard of God.  So what if the world is evil, the real question we need to be focused on is, “Am I more like them or more what God wants me to be”?

  Cursing the darkness doesn't do much good. What we need to be doing is turning on a light. That light must come from ourselves (Matthew 5:14-16) in how we live different from the world.  I don’t care how bad the world is; are we doing better? 
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