Getting Rid of Evil
For as long as I can remember since becoming a follower of Jesus, Christians have sought to get rid of the evil in their midst. Abortion, pornography, and homosexuality are several that come to mind. More recently, there has been a trend of both broadening the definition of evil and narrowing it. It has been broadened to include holding certain opinions or belonging to a certain political party or church. It has also been narrowed to exclude many things that once were considered evil, such as adultery, couples living together rather than being married, and drinking alcohol. Of course, what is defined as evil depends on how one views things in this world.
And this is the problem when it comes to taking upon ourselves the job of getting rid of evil. There is really no consensus, even among followers of Christ. Take for instance the current war in Gaza. There are those in some churches that focus on the evil of Hamas but call what Israel is doing as an appropriate response. Others, however, focus their rage on the evil they perceive Israel is bringing upon the Palestinian people. Is the conclusion black and white on what is taking place there? Do we have the insight and right judgment to make a declaration? Herein lies the problem.
In the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30), after finding weeds sown among the wheat, the servants asked the owner if they should remove the weeds. What the owner said in reply is revealing:
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let 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.’”
Now let’s remember it is clear in the story that the weeds were sown by an enemy of the owner to adversely affect the crop. The point Jesus is making is that we servants are not good at removing evil without, too, destroying what God is planting and growing in this world. Thus, we should not make it our priority to rid this world of evil. It’s not our job and we are terrible at it. Instead, he asks us to let the evil remain among us until he decides when it’s time to remove it.
So, what does this to look like? Honestly, I am not sure, but my best guess is we need to be very humble when addressing evil in our own midst or anywhere in our country or the world. We often don’t have the full perspective or understand all the dynamics at play. I remember living in Kansas back in the 90’s when Fred Phelps was leading the Westboro Baptist Church in protesting against homosexuality. He wanted to rid the world of it. Instead, what I believe he did was galvanize support for the homosexual lifestyle and, in the process, hurt a lot of innocent people, such as families of soldiers killed in war when his group protested at their funerals. I can think the same of the “preachers” who routinely visit college campuses proclaiming God’s hatred of sin and impending judgment. For every “convert” they gain, they harden thousands of the hearts of young people to the Gospel and undermine God’s work through ministries on these campuses.
As Jesus inferred, we will more than likely do more damage than good trying to get rid of evil on our own. Rather, I think he is calling us to do the good work of the Kingdom and focusing on that rather than all the evil growing up around us. It is in our nature to want to take control of things, but we would be wise to follow the Lord’s counsel—let him deal with the evil among us while we focus on growing the Kingdom.
© Jim Musser 2023 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.
