Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

Paul puts people into three categories: wise, foolish, and evil. As Christian parents, we must stop telling our children to treat everyone equally. People are different, and we must treat them according to their character. We treat wise people differently than we treat evil people.

Evil people tell you some things about themselves. They are intentionally dangerous and cause pain and harm on purpose. Evil people are calculating and malicious. They create obstacles and cause divisions. They make it more difficult for people to come to Christ or come to church. And if they do make it to Christ and the church, they create divisions. “Are you with us, or are you with them?” Rather than having one vision, they have division, which leads to factious behavior, conflict, drama, and strife.

Sometimes evil people can be the most religious people who think they are doing the things they do for God. They believe they are justified. The people who opposed Jesus the most were the most religious. The ones who harassed Him, hounded Him, and harmed Him did so in the name of God. That is the religious deception of evil people.

What underlies some evil people’s actions and motives is unforgiveness or unhealed hurts. There’s bitterness or brokenness. If you hold any unforgiveness or bitterness, you are actually poisoning your own soul. If you have unforgiveness, resentment, or bitter jealousy toward someone, you become a very unhealthy person—the worst version of yourself. The result is that you will do evil toward others because you have allowed evil into your soul.

Unhealed people can have triggers. There can be a relatively fine line when suddenly something happens, or someone says something, and now they are very emotional and actively doing evil. Evil was done to them, so they do evil to others. Trauma happened to them, so they traumatize others. Someone tormented them, so they torment others. Someone broke them, so they are breaking others.

When you look at evil people, you can see they have been through a lot. Their lives have been hard, but that doesn’t excuse their behavior. They need to forgive and heal to be healthy and bring life instead of death and evil. Evil people are often driven by unhealthy fear and anger. They are afraid that something will happen, so they’re constantly on alert. Their emotional lives are dominated by anger. The problem is that anger and fear do not guide you into God’s will. (Continued on Day 362 ...)

Today’s Reflection

Do you have unforgiveness or unhealed hurts? What do you need to do to release those things to God?