It is never easy in our current world to find a balance between the wholesome and the cultural. Everyone has their own boundaries that they have drawn and they are comfortable about their choices. Some folks have no boundaries … of course, their lives show it.
One of the unique parables that Jesus taught was about this very issue. Good seed was planted in a field and at night someone had planted weeds in that same field. As you can imagine, both the good seed and the weeds began to grow side by side. When those in the parable asked if they should weed out the bad growth, the grower of that field said no. Here was his response:
Matthew 13 28 “An enemy did this,” he replied. The servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?” 29”No,” he answered, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”
The phase in this response was, “No, because while you are pulling up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.” Now, what Jesus was saying was that evil is so integrated into our world that it often is too closely connected to the good. When I think of how this works in the modern world, it would involve marriages, churches, families, and partnerships, and the list continues with all kinds of closely related relationships. Evil can and does masquerade as something good, noble, and meaningful. Think of all the philanthropy that rich people participate in, and any discretions their lives have committed are all but forgotten. Evil can masquerade as good and go undetected.
I think of all the evil surrounding our government’s policies to redefine family structure, destroy the unborn, promote immoral child abuse through the transitioning craze … they all have a purpose. These are directed against God, and yes, society must bear the brunt of the results of such policies, but the ultimate target is God. Satan knows his time is short, and he wants to do all he can to show God that His creation hates Him … their desires for evil are an indication of it. The job of evil is to destroy what God has made good, that is why today good is considered bad, and bad is considered good. It is a direct strategy to hurt God and make Him resent ever creating mankind.
Jesus knew that removing evil would not be healthy without bringing the history of this earth to an end. Remember, God will judge this world, and those who ignore God and live to do evil will have their day in His court. Until then, evil is our enemy, it is to be rejected and resisted. We are to pray, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” The consolation for believers is found in knowing God does not endorse evil and will destroy it as the parable explains at the end. Evil is a reminder for what is wrong with humanity and what is perverted and seditious. Evil is the opposite of who God is, and how God does. Evil is the portrayal of rebellion, hatred, and sinister behavior. Evil comes to rob, steal, and destroy anything that God has created and purposed in life. Evil is the embodiment of sinful temptation and addiction. Evil is never to be flirted with because it will sting like a bee and float like a butterfly to entice you to know its venomous hate for God. Evil defined is ‘hatred of God.’
Leaving evil alone to grow side by side with the good may not be in our understanding or even in our agreement to healthy practices, but it does teach us what hate for God looks like and how it captures its prey in prisons of hopelessness.
James 4:7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
God did not leave us without knowing how evil is contained. Evil is contained when we fight to resist it … both in our personal lives and in society at large. Evil is never our friend because it is always our enemy, and it must not be ignored because it’s growing right next to us.
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler
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