The Lurking Evil

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Matthew 5:21-22 says, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” 

     There used to be an old radio show that began, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  The Shadow knows.”  I used to listen to it every sunday afternoon as we heard the exploits of the crime fighting, Shadow, Lamont Cranston.  Jeremiah also speaks about the heart and its deceitfulness as we recently mentioned.  The old radio shows made your imagination form pictures of what was going  on including the squeaking door of “Intersanctum.”  Who does know the evil that works in the hearts of men?  God knows.

     Two great sins are mentioned in this chapter, anger and adultery.  Both of them can be committed in the mind without ever doing the act itself.  A person can appear to be totally righteous and still be guilty of the two sins that are mentioned in this chapter.  In the 70’s, I used to walk from 2000 “L” street to my bus stop on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.  It took me past the White House twice a day and in the summer, the sidewalk was filled with young ladies wearing the famous mini skirts.  I soon learned that it was a very good time to review all of my Bible verses as I walked the path to the bus stop.  It did a lot to keep my attention off of the scenery and on the Word of God.  I wasn’t being self righteous in doing so, it just became necessary to look the other way and to occupy my mind with the Scriptures.  I would like to say that was my only problem, but of course, it wasn’t.  The idea of disliking a person for one reasons or another was also present and still is.  Certain people that are on the staff in my present location, also aggravate me and so I have to watch that I don’t have anger in my heart towards them and to stop wishing that God would send down fire and brimstone and consume them.  In this case, I use prayer to combat ill feelings toward another person.  I would not like to see one person, no matter how bad they have been towards me, to ever go into hell.  I pray for them that they would eventually get saved and to know the joy of eternal life.  I pray for their leadership skills and their families and the things going on in their lives that I don’t know about, but that every person is probably facing in today’s culture.  As one pastor once said, “It is hard to stay mad at someone for whom you are praying.”  Praise God today that He can perform mind renewal even in us.