The Ultimate Essence of Evil

Hello everyone,

How are you doing on this day? I hope well and bubbling in the Lord. We thank God for His great love for us. I listened to a message the other day titled “The Ultimate Essence of Evil” (full sermon here: The Ultimate Essence of Evil: The Majesty of God, the Triumph of Christ, and the Glory of Human Life). If we think about it, what do you think evil intends to do? Is it to make us bad or do things that are bad? The main premise of the message, which I also began to see was that the ultimate essence of evil is to make us desire or prefer something other than God / to lose a taste for God.

In Romans 1v21-25 (New International Version), we are told that “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” Indeed, they knew God, but preferred something else. They knew the Creator but preferred the created.

In a discussion with a group, it actually got us thinking and sharing – something good can become evil. For example, you might have a desire to have children, take care of your family, have a fantastic job e.t.c., but are those desires making you lose a taste for God or making you have satisfaction elsewhere other than God? You can even go to church and worship with the brethren, hear the truth about God, and get to know more about Him, but actually leave with a desire for something else other than God. May God help us to be true and real and search our hearts to know what is really pulling and tugging at our desires. May every little god or idol in our hearts be exposed that we may serve and love and desire the only wise God in Jesus name, amen.