Living Good in an Evil World

Last week ended in tragedy. Another school shooting. Senseless. This one happened right up the street from my church. A boy, barely a teenager, took a platform rifle to school and started killing people with it. Teachers and students who had started their day adjusting to the new back to school routine suddenly found their lives forever changed by evil. This boy and his family have now been destroyed by evil. An entire community, and even the nation, are feeling the after effects of evil.

In a world where it is so easy to see the evil, it is getting more challenging to hold space for the good. We have 24/7 access to story after story, example after example, of evil winning around the world. Wars. Terrorism. Hostages. Genocide. Violence. Corruption. Hate. Rebellion. Rage. Cancer. Sickness. Tragedy. Terror. Destruction. We could spend all the precious moments of our lives down that rabbit hole. It's instantly available with a click or a scroll.

How do we resist this temptation when it feels selfish to go on with our lives while people right down the street are suffering like this? We don't want to close our eyes and stick our heads in the sand. We want to make a difference in our communities and in our world. How do we survive such deep pain over and over and over again?

There's a tiny portion of Scripture that has made such a huge impact in my life. It's address is Romans 12: 9, and it goes like this. Ready?

"Hate the evil. Cling to the good." That's it. Literally seven words.

Why is this so impactful? First, it encourages us to hate the evil. We don't have to find a reason for it. We don't have to excuse it. We don't have to act like it really isn't that bad. We can direct all of our outrage toward hating evil. God hates evil. He hates it. One day He will make it all right again. Every single bit of evil will be dealt with.

But we can't stop at hating evil. We can't spend our lives on the hating of evil. We are made in God's image. We were built for love. We were designed for the good. And that's what we have to focus on, to cling to, to find hope in, to share with others so that they can find hope too. If we get stuck in hating evil, we will never conquer it. The way to overcome evil is with good.

This particular tragedy that we have just faced in our community has been infused with good. People have come together to mourn; that is good. People have reevaluated their lives in the ways that count; that is good. Leaders have become more vigilant about preventing this kind of evil; that is good. Money has been raised to care for the victims; that is good. Parents have had opportunity to connect with their children about important things; that is good. Support of all kinds has been shown to a small high school in the middle of Georgia; that is good. Lives have been changed by evil, of course they have, and that is horrid and we hate it. But so many more have been changed for the good.

The best way that you can fight evil in this world is with finding the good, being the good, changing your life for the good. And when we get overwhelmed with the burden of evil, we can't do this important work in ourselves. Our bodies are designed to protect us from evil. Certain processes shut down to conserve our energy in times of survival. We can't be a part of the solution if we are neutralized by the problem.

So let me just get practical for a minute. Because "finding the good"..."gratitude" is a resource. I teach about this in my online course "Resource Your Health, Change Your Life". You can use this resource at any time and in any situation. All it takes is a shift in your focus.

Let me preface this by saying that it's not healthy to ignore the evil or to deny it or to minimize it. Gratitude isn't about exchanging the negative for the positive. Rather, gratitude is about stealing the power from evil and using it as fuel for good.

Practically, this looks like what I've just done in this post. I started with the reality of evil and it's impact. But I didn't stop there. With every word that I write, I am stealing power from evil and using it as fuel for good. The good will get my focus. Or as Sheriff Jud Smith so eloquently stated in his press conference the day the shooting occurred "Love will prevail."

You can make this change in any situation or circumstance in your life. For instance, my mom has suffered for years and years and years with horrible mental illness. It's one of the hardest realities that I face daily in my life. It is absolutely hellish what this suffering has done to her life and ours. I hate it with every fiber of my being.

BUT evil is not where my focus stays. My mom's illness has shaped the good that I do in my work. it has driven me to research and write. It has taught my siblings and I patience with people who struggle. God has intervened so many times in my mom's situation that I don't have time to list. We have seen Him show up. Even in this hardest situation to find good, I choose to do it. Because evil will not win here.

Does this resolve the evil? Am I somehow saying that evil is good because it leads to good? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Good doesn't resolve evil...God will do that one day, but we still live in a world broken by sin. Good overcomes evil. It becomes more than. It propels us ahead. It gives us back the power that evil tried to steal.

When my children are suffering in some way from the brokenness of this world, I challenge them to name five good things. These don't have to be things connected to whatever they are struggling with. They just have to be presently good things. As they do this, I see hope infuse back into them. They are reminding their nervous system (that is trying to protect them from evil) that good is still present. And a focus on these good things allows them to live good even in an evil, broken world.

Newsflash: I know we like to think that we can conquer evil with laws and courts and force...and I am thankful for these devices given to us to hold back evil's chaos...but as long as people are caught in the stronghold of sin or the effects of brokenness caused by sin, evil will be present in our world. We can make as many rules as we want; it doesn't play by them.

But I've come here today with good news. Each of us get to choose whether evil will conquer in our lives or whether we will overcome it with good. You get that daily, situation by situation, circumstance by circumstance, news report by news report choice. You can choose to get stuck in evil, or you can choose to cling to good.

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21