Beware Of Your Definition of Evil!

A number of years ago now I politely debated a journalist from Calgary on his world-view and religious beliefs. One thing that stuck in my craw was his definition of evil. To him evil was the injustice done to those innocent victims of rape, drunk driving accidents, assaults, or robberies, and on the human level most would agree, even with feelings of rage! But the Bible is quick to correct our distempered, secular, humanistic thinking in cutting straight to the reality of all evil. God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah, “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns-broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer.2:13) The essence of all evil is forsaking God as your satisfaction in life, and replacing Him with things that cannot satisfy. Alcohol, sex, and greed are besmirched replacements for one’s full satisfaction in God. It is a horrible thing to be a victim of crime, and lust, and reckless driving, but real evil is the exchange of God’s glory for a sullied treasure that will not last. This is the real tragedy of drunk-driving that someone has exchanged their satisfaction in God for the high that alcohol can give. This is the real tragedy of rape that someone would exchange their satisfaction in God and His definition of love for their lust of another creature—like a woman. We should feel injustice on the human level, and mourn with those who mourn, and weep with those who weep. But this feeling of injustice should never precede what we know evil to really be—the forsaking or ‘falling short’ of the glory of God! You may not be a drunkard or a rapist or a thief, but are you drinking from the fountain of Living Waters today so that you can live for His glory by His grace or are you building yourself broken cisterns—filled with trinkets and things that can never satsify?