Helen McCormack

Our world is full of contrasts. We teach them to our children so that they have a better understanding of the world in which they live. They learn the word “up” when they want to be carried or “down” when they want to run free. We teach them clean and dirty, in and out, hot and cold as well as win and lose. The list can be very long!

One especially challenging dichotomy that has been debated and challenged through the ages is: why is there so much evil in the world? Oh, we understand the words good and evil, but not the deeper impact. I am not the expert who “finally” has an answer, but I’d like to share some thoughts that have helped me come to better understand this dilemma. I pray it might help others too.

It all started in the Garden of Eden. Everything was perfectly good and God gave Adam one rule: they were not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. It would have been good if they had obeyed and it was evil that they disobeyed. Their choice meant that Adam and Eve then knew the difference between good and evil, so they were removed from the perfect garden and placed in a world where they soon realized that there was a constant battle between good and evil. We still live in that world. Thankfully, the Bible helps us know what our focus needs to be in the midst of the battle.

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good,” (Romans 12:9 ESV). “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good,” (Romans 12:21 ESV). “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God,” (3 John 1:11 NIV). These are hard tasks that only God can help us through.

In our example about children learning contrasts, I wonder if a child would have a full understanding of up and down if they had not experienced the difference? Would they really understand hot and cold if they had not felt both? What about clean and dirty, win or lose? In a similar vein, after experiencing the consequences of disobeying, it seems that Adam and Eve likely understood that the battle between good and evil was real! Today, could we really understand the depth and width of evil without also understanding the even greater depth and width of the goodness of God?

Lest anyone think that just being good is all God asks, we must remember that the Bible never says that balancing a scale, making sure that the scale falls heavier on the good side, will open the doors of heaven. One thief on the cross, who initially threw insults at Jesus, later, with a changed demeanor, asked Jesus to remember him and was told, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” That promise was not given because of his goodness since he, himself, admitted that he was on his cross because of his evil deeds. He had no chance to “balance” his bad deeds with good ones since he died within a short time after saying this. He was given the promise when he turned in humility to Jesus admitting his evil and submitting to receiving the good that Jesus offered.

Thankfully, we can be encouraged in our battles when reading Revelation 21, since there we are told of a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no struggle between good and evil. Wow, I find it hard to imagine the peace and rest waiting for us!

Helen McCormack is the author of a second book, “Journeys in Faith, Pursing Obedience,” containing more than 50 additional devotionals written for The Minot Daily News.