Not So the Wicked

Earlier this month, Sasha and I attended a conference in beautiful Croatia.  We visited the seaside city of Split and saw the massive palace of Emperor Diocletian.

Diocletian was Emperor of Rome in the late third and early fourth centuries.  He violently persecuted Christians in more extreme and terrible ways than any of his predecessors.    The ruins of his amphitheater, where many Christians would have been killed for sport, still stand in Split.

Yet now, centuries later, his empire has crumbled.  His palace still remains, but it has been converted into a city center.  Inside the great walls are little shops where tourists can buy souvenirs.  The upper levels of the walls have been converted to apartments.  People live in the palace of this evil man as if it is just another part of downtown Split, and right in the middle of the palace stands a large church.

Evil will not prosper.  All that evil people do will eventually come to ruin.  Even this great and terrible Roman emperor was eventually brought low and his palace turned into a place of commerce, dwelling, and worship.

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Psalm 1:4-6

The wall of Diocletian's Palace in Split Croatia, now used for apartments and shops.

Knowing Good and Evil

As Sasha and I were walking in the park today she shared a thought with me that inspired this blog, so this one is from her.

Adam and Eve were put in a perfect and good world.  They were given one command, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

Why were they forbidden from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  Knowledge is, generally speaking, a good thing.  Knowing right from wrong is a good thing.  Why is it bad to know good and evil?

We have to remember that Adam and Eve did know what good was.  In fact, they knew it better than any of us do.  We live in a good world that has been corrupted by our evil.  They lived in an uncorrupted perfect and good world, and they were good people too.  We sometimes talk about people as if they are good.  We say things like, “He’s a good guy,” or “She’s a good kid.”  When someone once called Jesus “Good teacher,” He responded by saying, “Why do you call me good?  No one is good except God alone.”  We ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” when in reality, bad things do not happen to good people.  They just happen to people who are not as bad as some others.

Adam and Eve knew good in a way that none of us ever has.  Remember that the tree was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In disobeying God’s command they chose to commit an evil action.  Thus, they became aware not only of the existence of good, but of the harsh reality of evil.  They experienced first hand what it means to be aware of both good and evil, not only in theory, but in experience as well.  They gave up experiencing just good to willingly experience evil.

It is strange for us to think this way.  We who experience both good and evil on a daily basis have become so accustomed to it that we no longer think about it.  This is the world our first parents made, and it is a world we each continue to make every day in our words and deeds.  There is only one way out of it.  Just as Adam stepped out of a good world and brought us into an evil one, so the second Adam, Jesus, stepped into an evil world to bring us back to a good one.  All who believe in Him, His death for our sins, and His resurrection will one day go to this good world forever.

Salvation has come.  Someday the knowledge of evil will be but a theory perhaps reflected on in academic circles while the experience of true and uncorrupted good will exist for all.

Trust The Truth

Years ago, a former airplane pilot told me a story about his training.  He explained how one day he was up flying with his instructor sitting in the copilot seat.  The horizon looked slanted, so he began to bank right to keep the plane level.

After a short time his instructor asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m keeping the plane level.”

“Does your instrument panel say you are level?” inquired the instructor.

“No, but if I fly level according to the instruments, the ground is slanted.”

The instructor calmly asked, “Did you calibrate your instruments before you took off?”

“Yes,” replied my pilot friend.

“Then trust your instruments,” advised the instructor.

We do not have an instrument panel to give us guidance in life, but we do have God’s word in the Bible.  Just as a pilot should calibrate his instrument panel before every flight, we should regularly recalibrate our lives by spending time in God’s word.

There will be times when thing seem wrong as we travel through life.  We will be tempted in times like this to look at the world around us and adjust according to what we see.  In doing so, we risk becoming crooked ourselves.

Do not look at the world when you need to adjust.  Look at the control panel.  Look at God’s word and let Him instruct you.  Keep your life calibrated to the truth.