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Everybody loves a hero.
In lots of our tv shows and movies, the good guys and the bad guys are identified. We root for the good guy to conquer the bad guy.
But sometimes creative writers make it less obvious who is the good guy and who is the bad guy.
Some of the good guys have a bad side. And the bad guys turn out not to be all bad.
We can no longer root exclusively for one person. Even though we might never admit it, we may see ourselves in both the good and bad characters.
We feel that conflicting tension of good and bad within ourselves. Satan tells us that is ok. He can work with that.
He delights in bringing us to the point where we believe evil and good can coexist. And he is particularly delighted when we get to the full bloom of believing evil can be used to create good.
He does a little victory dance every time we say. “The end justifies the means.”
Many “Holy Wars” have been fought in the name of doing good even as atrocious evil has been done. In fact, Jesus said the time was coming when people would believe they were serving God by killing some of His Creations.
The time will come when people will kill you and think they are doing God a favor.
John 16:2
How do we end up thinking the end justifies the means?
Although we may not consciously recognize it, we have put ourselves in the place of God.
We know how we want this story to end. And if it is not being written the way we think it should be, we are ready to grab the pen and fix it.
Unfortunately, it amounts to more than grabbing a pen. Some use whatever force is necessary to try to swing things their way.
We sometimes ask God to follow us instead of our following Him.
We sometimes ask God to make His Will match our will instead of humbly saying to Him, “Your Will be done.”
We sometimes decide who is good and who is bad. We judge.
We sometimes label. We say we are fighting for justice when we are unjust. We want mercy, but we are very selective in how we extend mercy.
What is God’s Answer?
Be still and know that I AM God.
Psalm 46:10
God is in charge. He outranks all of us.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
He has the plans for our individual lives, for the lives of our family, friends and even those we might think are our enemies.
He has the plans for every part of His Creation. His Plans began long before He put us in a body and will continue long after we are no longer in this body. We are only a tiny part of that Big All Encompassing Plan.
So what is our part now?
Begin with being still. Don’t panic. Don’t feel you must immediately do something. Be still.
Thank God He is God and you don’t have to be. This is His World to run. He can and will do it.
Be secure in the knowledge He has The Plan and He is even now working out every detail.
Follow Him and obey His every command.
Start with His Command to love one another.
However, we may find it easier to try to love others than follow God’s other instructions to look first at ourselves.
When we are tempted to decide who is the good guy and who is the bad guy, God reminds us to let Him be the judge.
Most of us would like to be the good people, but like the writers of those tv and movie scripts demonstrated, we are each a combination of good and not so good.
God’s Desire is that the story end with each of us being revealed as all good, just the way He saw us from the beginning.
David’s prayer is a good place to start.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
