TODAY IS…

an excellent day to stand on the side of good.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  Romans 12:21 NASB

Let’s face it, there are many of us who have come to Christ after spending many years in conflict, believing that standing with evil was where we were happy, where we were comfortable, and where we had fun.

We offered many different reasons for not believing that we are, indeed, children of God and that He placed us in this world He created, a world for which there are simply no adequate words with which to describe its majesty, wonder and beauty. Many of us lived our lives believing that “life just happens” and that while alive we could say, do, and think anything we liked.

It was easy to rationalize, justify, and excuse our behavior. It was not difficult to refuse to accept that the reason for our being created in the first place was to love one another, care for this world He created and for one another, and to worship God and use the time given us in this life to prepare for the everlasting life promised to us.

Many of us found it remarkably easy to accept the message of the evil one, who was telling us that we were foolish to believe a loving and benevolent God. After all, where is He when children die of starvation around the world? Where is He when human monsters roam the earth preying upon the weak, the young, and the elderly? Where is He when loved ones of ours die in accidents or when our children succumb to cancer or some other disease that He could have prevented?

Fortunately, at some point, we discovered, deep within – right where God placed it upon our birth – the ability to see the truth. We discovered the ability to deny the constant pressure placed upon us all to continue listening to the lies that would keep us from enjoying our time on earth and using it in the manner our Creator desired.

We discovered the salvation that was offered to us all when Jesus Christ fulfilled the promises of long, long ago. We experienced the joy; the sense of relief; the feeling of belonging to something beautiful, glorious, and uplifting.

We became part of a family. God’s family. And from that point forward, we have accepted the responsibility that comes with being a member of that family.

And the responsibility is this: We must conquer evil by doing good.

We must love others in the same way that Jesus Christ demonstrated His love for us. We must cast off the evil that speaks to us daily telling us to judge this person or hate that person. As Christians, we must remember that each one of us was forgiven when we asked for forgiveness no matter how solidly we had stood with evil before we accepted the glory of living in the goodness that is God.

Therefore, we must forgive others and welcome them into the family.

This is difficult for some of us, because we tend to think another person’s offenses are worse than ours. In addition, we sometimes question another person’s sincerity when they say they are tired of listening to the evil one and wish to now open their heart and their mind to God.

But we must resist the temptation to think like that.

There is no fence to straddle between good and evil. A wall separates them. If we allow even a little evil to occupy our hearts, then we are standing on the wrong side of that wall and we need to quickly step around it and stand firmly on the side of good.

Use the gift of this day to take a good look at which side of the wall you are standing on, and if you find you’re not standing where you should be, that’s OK.

Because today is an excellent day to change sides.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson