Evil and Good or Hate and Cling

DEVOTION

ROMANS

EVIL AND GOOD

OR

HATE AND CLING

Rom 12:9-13

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

NIV

Hate evil and cling to what is good is our next thought for the day. At first it would seem to speak broadly about evil and good. But there are two ways in which we could dig a little deeper and more specific about these two opposites. First, we could see it as to what occurs within our being. Because Paul made that statement about when he wants to do good, evil is right there with him is the reason we think about it being within us.

Rom 7:19

9 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do

Rom 7:21-23

21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members

NIV

Then it would made sense to hate the evil which is at work in our members and cling to whatever good there is in our spirit. It seems that is the fact of life. We are not perfectly good, nor are we perfectly evil. We have been born again, at least our spirit has been born again and the when we accepted Jesus into our lives, it means then he sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, as we were baptized with the Spirit. But the Holy Spirit does not dwell in the members of our body, but in our spirit. Our body will die, but not our spirit as it dwells with the Holy Spirit. So we hate the evil in our members, but cling to the good in our spirit. Secondly, we could see evil and good as two individuals, Satan and Jesus. Hate Satan and cling to Jesus. Although we are to love our enemies, it would seem natural to hate Satan for the only thing he has to offer us is death. It is true for a short time we might have some pleasure from his hand, but that is a deception, just as he offered a pleasure to eve.

Gen 3:6

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

NIV

That is what Satan offered to her through a deception and that is what he has to offer to us, accepting his offer brings death along with it. So it would be right to hate Satan, hate what he stands for, hate the idea of the evil he wants to embed within us. The pleasure lasts only for a brief lifetime, death last forever. Clinging to Jesus brings us life, both life in the here and now, but also life eternal. Jesus is good, he is the personification of all that is good. He is the good news. When the things of this world, the attractions of the prince of this world are offered to us, we must cling to Jesus, the King of Kings. The King always trumps a prince, has all the authority over a prince and ultimately will send that prince and all who have accepted the prince’s reign in their lives into the lake of burning sulfur, into outer darkness. So let us cling to Jesus.