Fighting Evil

Have you ever felt the whole world was against you?

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:31-39

Paul must have felt that way when he was suddenly struck blind after encountering a vision of Jesus on the road.

In an instant, he discovered that he had been wrong about everything, and now he was being punished.

But was he, really?

For a brief time, he felt alone.  But after three days, help came and he was born anew, accepted and loved, despite his past.

It is no wonder that Paul is so convinced that God is all forgiving and all loving.  Look what God did for him.

It is hard to see God's presence in so many acts of violence and anger, where one person, like Paul, can instill fear in such a large crowd or population.

We live with this today, having seen images of people running from a shooter during a parade.

If evil seeks to reign, there is little we can do to prevent it.  It will find a way around any obstacle.

But we cannot let it stop us from sharing God's love to all.

Jesus didn't stop when threatened and beaten.  And now he lives in us.

We shouldn't stop either.

More to come...