The battle against evil starts at home
Habakkuk 1:2-4 “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.” (English Standard Version, 2001 by Crossway)
Did you read the Old Testament scripture reprinted above? Things have not changed much regarding human nature since 605 B.C., have they? The earliest dating of the prophesies of Habakkuk tell us that, 2,600 years ago, we humans have not learned to do much better today than when Habakkuk had his vision. There was violence, iniquity (another word for sinfulness), destruction, strife and contention then, as well as today. We only need to go online, read a newspaper, or watch a television report and see that we are still dealing with the problem of evil and the selfishness and sin of many different people around the world.
Yet those of us who have faith in God are also wondering, like Habakkuk, how long will all this hatred and violence go on? Why doesn’t God do something about it? How long must we cry out?
Unfortunately, we are all caught up in our natural inclination toward self-preservation, selfishness, and fear. That inclination is what I will call our “sin nature,” and it is part of our spiritual DNA, from birth to the grave. Our challenge is to understand how we can recognize that natural inclination and, hopefully, tap into God’s way to deal with it.
I teach middle school children on Wednesday nights in what we call our confirmation ministry. We instruct those young minds about our faith so they can affirm their decision to continue living a Christian life. Our sin nature and the problem of ongoing evil is often a topic that comes up in our discussions. Simple questions about why a friend doesn’t believe in God or deeper questions about the meaning of life or why we can’t all get along are brought up year after year, class after class.
Through those interactions in class, I know that the problem of evil and sin are on the minds of the next generation. We cannot typecast all Millennials, or Generations X, Y, or Z as self-centered, self-absorbed drones who do not care about the world or other people. It just is not so!
What we, as the older generation, fail to see is that we have allowed sin nature to have greater and greater voice in our daily lives, more than we have allowed God’s voice to be heard.
That voice of God ought to be heard by our children at home, from us who are charged with raising them. Sadly, so often, that is not the case.
Last Wednesday evening in class, after I had taught, we ended by praying the Lord’s Prayer in “relay fashion.” The first student would say the first phrase of the prayer, then I would point to the next student who would continue, and so on. As we went around the circle of students, five of them could not continue the prayer relay. They had not learned at home that model for prayer that Jesus taught us from the Bible.
We allow our children to be programmed by what the world says to them. We do not give them the tools to combat the world of evil they confront daily!
How can we help our next generation thrive spiritually if we do not teach them the 10 Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and place into their hands (and minds) the Holy Scriptures?
Instead of leaving them alone to play “Fortnite” or surf YouTube for the latest soundbite of secular opinion about what life should be about, why not start having family time where the Bible is read and discussed?
Why don’t we Invite the Lord into the center of our precious time as a family, where the values that God would have us learn and become the “virus” and “malware” prevention we use to fight off evil and our sin nature?
That is not an easy task, but anything that is as important as turning the tide of our violent and contentious world ought to be implemented now, and, without delay!
God’s own Spirit will help us. On that we can depend!
The Rev. Randall (Randy) Conley is the pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Hubbard Lake. He is married to his wife of 21 years, Robbie. He has written articles on faith and theology for several publications in his denomination. He enjoys preaching, teaching and gardening at home.