I will never become a strong disciple of Jesus Christ until I properly understand my relationship to evil. Evil does not become evil to me until I allow it to become so. A cancer is strictly a fibrous mass in my body until I become afraid; then it becomes evil to me. Jesus said of Satan, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30, KJV). The evil one attacked Jesus time and again, but he never won any ground. That sets the pattern for me: I must not let evil invade me, violate me, spoil me. Even more, I must not even consider doing evil, for love “thinketh [takes into account] no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:5, KJV). Just as contemplating temptation is the beginning of sin, so contemplating evil action is the beginning of defeat.
That means I must not let evil dwell in my mind, my thoughts. That is where “the renewing of [the] mind” (Romans 12:2) must come in. A renewed mind is God’s mind, and God will never allow evil to upset Him. Thinking godly, however, is not an action of self-effort. It is really effortless, like the flow of the Niagara Falls. I must simply allow Christ to flow through every impulse of my being; then my mind will be automatically, continually renewed.
Lord, I must never be naive and pretend evil does not exist. I must always recognize its existence but never its authority. The moment I bow to its yoke I start my slide downward. Whenever I turn from evil I can always depend upon Your support, for “the eyes of the Lord are [always] toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry” (Psalm 34:15).
“And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10).
Daily with the King 