Now finally, all of you should be like-minded and sympathetic, should love believers, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult, but on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this so that you can inherit a blessing.  1 Peter 3:8-9 HCSB

My friend in these end times we are seeing more and more evil. People seem to have no moral compass. People hurt others without a conscience. I believe this is largely due to what we are told in Romans 1:20-24 which says if we continue to reject the salvation God has offered through Jesus Christ, God will give us over to our evil desires.

We all think about hell as being hot. It is described as a lake of fire. But that’s not the worst part of hell. The worst part of hell is that you are thrown in there with a bunch of other evil people and separated from God. God is not there. Here we have access to God. I once worked with a parolee that had transformed his life while in prison. He came home eager to serve the Lord. He immediately got into a local church and began serving there. I watched as the Lord blessed him with a job and a vehicle and a home. His wife had been arrested with him and came out a few months later. She too had turned to God. They both said that once they got into that prison, it was just them and God. They had reached their lowest point. They called out to God and He got them through their sentence. Many do this but forget all about God when they are released, but not this young couple. I had several other parolees that had committed their lives to Christ while in prison and continued to serve Him upon their release. They had lived a life of perpetrating evil and wanted no part of it. No good comes from our sin. No good comes from evil behavior. The only thing that does is separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). Without God we have no hope.

Our Scripture passage tells us we are to give a blessing so that we can inherit a blessing. The Beatitudes are a part of the Sermon on the Mount which is found in Matthew chapter 5. In this sermon, Jesus list those who will be blessed. They include those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are gentle, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for righteousness.

Proverbs 11:21 says, “Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free. In these last days we must be sure we are living as God has called us to live. We must be sure we do no evil. We must understand and remember we hide nothing from God. He sees all we do. He hears all we say.

1 Peter 3:10-12 tells us that the one who wants to love life and to see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, and he must turn away from evil and do what is good. He must seek peace and pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their request but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. In our Monday night Bible study, our leader gave us a quote from William Temple. It was an excerpt from When Is it Right to Fight? Part Two. In it William Temple is quoted as saying that we Christians at war are called to the hardest task-to fight without hatred, to resist without bitterness, and to triumph without vindictiveness. We seek peace.

God doesn’t call us to do what is easy, He calls us to do what is right according to His holy word. He calls us to obey His commands and most importantly He calls us to do no evil. The Bible clearly tells us as Christians we will be persecuted. We are not to behave as evil people being persecuted but as Christians. In Matthew 5:44 we are instructed by Jesus to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us.

Evil is easy. God’s way not so much. But the good thing about God’s way is it leads us to heaven. Turn to Him today. Trust in Him and do no evil.

Have a great day!