Bible Thoughts - Galatians 1:4

I find it interesting how often the Bible speaks of the state of the world in terms that are, apparently, unpopular today. In this verse Paul refers to this world as "evil." Many other versus can be cited that say or imply the same thing.

However, speaking in such terms today is usually deemed overly cynical, negative, unproductive, hard. A turn off. And the funny thing is, I kind of get it.

There is so much beauty in the world. So much to praise God for. So much to honor God with in being better stewards. There would seem yet so much to smile about, and there is. I think here of even Jesus who, though a "man of sorrows" was also "anointed with the oil of gladness" above others. Who also, in speaking to his disciples, said "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children..." It's clear in that passage that, though Jesus says we are "evil," He does not say we are so hopelessly so that we cannot even do a good deed!

Perhaps this then is the tension we should maintain in reference to "this evil world?" The world itself, it's material physicality, is obviously amoral (a tree cannot sin). The creation made by God is glorious, and cool, and wonderful. But "the world" is still "this evil world" in the condition to which it has been subjected, and under the stewardship of fallen mankind.

From a spiritual and political standpoint the world may be "evil," overtly and oppressively affected by the fallen state of mankind. And yet, in all of this, "God so loved the world;" showing again that there is much to love, much to appreciate, much to give ourselves to and for... just as God, through Jesus Christ, did.

May the Lord help us to love this "evil world" in which we live, and to love the fallen and "evil" people who live in it. People for whom Christ came, lived, died, rose again, and loves today.