“Unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3).

Whenever tragic events occur, people can’t help but wonder why God doesn’t do anything to prevent evil. If God is good, then shouldn’t God do something to prevent innocent people from being murdered? And, if evil people continue to perpetrate evil with no consequences doesn’t that imply that God, while being good, is impotent to do anything to prevent evil? And, worse yet, if God is good and God is all powerful, doesn’t the presence of evil imply that God is indifferent?

These are real questions. So, what’s the deal?

God absolutely can stop evil people from perpetrating evil. God absolutely can and absolutely will one day on the day of judgment when Christ returns. God absolutely can stop evil people from perpetrating evil, but not yet. You see, in order for God to stop evil people from perpetrating evil, God would have to stop the evil person. And here is the problem and here is the grace.

We think the shooter is evil, Hitler is evil, the human traffickers are evil – the bible tells us “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Bible tells us, you are evil. Bible tells us I am evil. We are all sinners in need of grace and mercy that God offers to sinners through his Son Jesus Christ

For God to stop evil doers from perpetrating evil right now, God would have to take away the freewill from every single human being. For God to eliminate evil from this world, God would have to take away people’s freedom to choose not only from the active shooter in Maine, Hamas, Putin, Hitler, and criminals, but you and me.

That day, on Christ’s return, every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus is Lord – but not yet – why? – because of mercy and grace. God is giving us the time to get right with God.

“Repent, or you too will perish.”

“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who heart it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

“I have no problems with the Bible,” some people say. “It’s just those hard parts – parts about judgment, doom, damnation, exclusion – that I have problems with.”

Ever hear that?

If you only believe in the parts of the Bible that you like and reject the parts you don’t like and that are hard, it’s not God you believe in. You believe in yourself.

The Bible is God’s word. All of it. If you don’t like it, the problem is not with God but with us. If you don’t understand it, then it’s our responsibility to work and study until we do get it. The Bible doesn’t change to meet us where we are. We are to change to the standards God presents to us in the Bible.

When we are at odds with the Bible, the problem doesn’t lie in the Bible. It’s our rebellion.

When we put ourselves over the authority of God’s word, we put ourselves as a higher authority than God.

Good luck with that.

We submit to the authority of the Bible because it is God’s word to us. We submit by standing under the authority of God’s word. When we stand under the authority of God’s word, we begin understanding the world God has created.

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

This is a ludicrous scripture! Who in the right mind would choose death? curses? Duh!!!

Right?

Yet people choose death over life and curses over blessings all the time. All the time. We do so by holding on to things we ought to let go, by going after things we ought not, by choosing what is easy rather than what is right.

I am not sure who wrote this but this summarizes what we’re talking about:

Hate has four letters but so does Love
Enemies has seven letters but so does Friends
Lying has five letters but so does Truth
Cry has three letters but so does Joy
Negativity has ten letters but so does Positivity

Choose life. Choose God’s blessings. You have to make a choice.

Choose life.