Where Will You Be at 12:05 PM ?

Many people ask, “If God is so loving, why is there such evil in the world?”  This is an excellent and valid question, when asked with a sincere and open heart.  The simple answer is because it shows the glory of God.  Of course, that may cause many more questions.  So let us try to address them here.

            The Bible tells us how evil entered the world.  That is through the sin of Adam and Eve believing the serpents deceiving words over that of God’s word (Gen 3:7,17; Rom 5:12-17).  Many may believe that at the beginning sin was what today may be called “small sin” similar to a “white lie” however, right off the bat their nakedness (Adam and Eve) was exposed and they knew they needed to be covered.  Before long there was jealousy, hate and then murder.  Then came the twistedness of sin, lusting moving to perversion and so on. 

            So you see sin and evil go hand in hand.  If man had kept to the law of God, which in the beginning was simply to not eat of the tree and trusting in God’s provision.  Then there would be no evil.  Now, God must punish sin according to His standard.  What is His standard?  It is the Ten Commandments.  How many lies have you told in your life?  When is the last time you stole anything (big, small, material or immaterial)?  Have you always put God first?  You know those are only three of the Ten Commandments.  Jesus, summarized these in the New Testament when he was asked by the scribes which is the greatest commandment:

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29–31

            Do you understand that in the eyes of the holy and perfect God you are a sinner and are therefore evil?  It is with this understanding that the original question may be answered. 

            Look at it this way, if God and heaven are a perfectly white piece of paper and you take a pencil and put a tiny dot on that paper it is no longer perfectly white.  So even the “smallest” sin causes you to be imperfect.

            Now, imagine it is about noon, if at 12:05 pm God were to remove evil from the world where would you end up?  The only two choices are Heaven or Hell.

            The Bible says:

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, … Romans 3:23

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8

The good news is that because God is so Righteous, Holy and Just the Bible also says:

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

            God is not slack; He does not turn a deaf ear to the pain and suffering in the world.  But He is longsuffering towards the world and allows men to make their choices in life.  Because He is not willing that any perish without having had the opportunity to come to repentance, He allows people to chose life or death, good or evil, in other words YOU get to chose between God or Satan, Heaven or Hell.

            

            When you come to understand these things and you chose God, He offers salvation from Hell as free gift.  He is standing there offering it to you.  The only work you must do is to receive it.

            
           The Bible says:

           As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; … (Romans 3:10).  … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23).  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (Romans 5:12).  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:2).  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).  For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).”  … that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9–10).  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (John 1:12).  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8–9).