​

CURRENT RADIO SERIES The Power of Prayer   CURRENT TV SERIES LifeWorks

She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.  --Genesis 3:6 Our world is certainly not a perfect world. You don’t have to go very far or listen very long to be reminded of the evil and sin all around us. And it’s easy to wonder why there is so much fear, hatred, wickedness, and terror, and they’re looking for some answers. The secular humanist has no real answer to the philosophical question of the existence of evil. Humanists believe falsely that humans are basically good in spite of all evidence to the contrary. One chilling example is a study done by the late professor Allen Bloom, who asked his college students, “How do you identify an evil person?” His question was met with silence. Not one student could give him a determining factor of evil! Bloom said that our inability to identify and recognize evil is a sign of grave danger in our society. Our society has become so perverse that we can’t even recognize evil or wrongdoing. Since 9/11 and the subsequent rise of ISIS you probably won’t find very many people who would say there is no such thing as evil. But you probably couldn’t find many who know what evil is or why it is so prevalent in our society. The Bible has the answer to the problem of evil. It all goes back to Genesis 3 and our first parents, who yielded to temptation.  Sin came into our world at that point, and it’s something we all have to deal with since. But, according to the Bible, we do have hope…and that hope is in Christ.  Through Christ we are freed from the power of sin and evil.  And because of Christ, we can live as people of purity in a twisted world. My challenge to you today is to reflect that purity in how you live so that a world that is in the grips of evil will see the only hope…the hope of Jesus Christ. Live in such a way that our world will see there is an antidote to evil, Jesus Christ! Let Your Light Shine by Dr. Paul Chappell “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.” Luke 11:33-35 As a young boy growing up in Edinburgh, Scotland, Robert Louis Stevenson was fascinated with lights. Themes of light and dark would find frequent mention in his literary works. This fascination is probably understandable given that his father, two of his uncles, and his grandfather all worked in lighthouse design and construction. One night Stevenson was watching a man who walked along the street to light the gas lights that illuminated the neighborhood through the night. He had a flame on a long pole, and one by one he lit the lamps along the sidewalk. Stevenson called out to his mother, “Come see the man poking holes in the darkness.” The purpose of our salvation is not just to secure our eternal destiny in Heaven. We are also meant to be lights in the darkness of the world as we live our daily lives. God did not light us with His love and grace to hide us, but to set us on a candlestick to show the world what happens when someone trusts Him for salvation. There is no doubt that there is great darkness all around us today. Yet the great problem is not that the darkness is so great, but that our lives are so feeble and often hidden from the world. We need a return to the days when God’s people put their faith on clear and unmistakable display, and spend their lives poking holes in the darkness. Today’s Growth Principle:  If we do not shine as lights in the dark, the world has no other way to see the truth.