Stands Up Against Evil

Stands Up Against Evil

A HERO’S TALE

If he hadn’t been a prophet, John the Baptist probably would’ve made an excellent military general, boxer, or politician. That dude wasn’t afraid of anyone.

One day, as he was baptizing people in the Jordan River, John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees approaching. These were the Jewish religious leaders who oversaw the spiritual practices of the people and tried to help them understand the Old Testament law.

But many of these men were hypocrites, meaning they preached one thing and practiced another. They were arrogant and self-righteous. They were more concerned with following rules than loving God and others. They weren’t true followers of God.

These men were also powerful, wealthy, and respected (and sometimes even feared) by the people. To cross them meant big trouble.

That didn’t matter to John. When he saw them approaching him one day, he loudly called them a “brood of snakes” and warned them to turn from their hypocrisy and follow God (see Matthew 3:7-12). That took guts!

Later in his ministry, John bravely criticized King Herod, the Roman-appointed ruler of Palestine. Herod was sinfully in love with his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias, and had married her after she divorced Philip. John chastised Herod —a godly rebuke that ultimately got him executed.

John had no problem standing up against evil!

DECODING THE MESSAGE

What would you do if you saw a kid calling someone else names or hitting him or her? If you saw another kid lying, cheating, or stealing? If your friend wanted to disobey his parents?

Would you laugh and join in? Ignore the bad behavior? Bad-mouth that person to others? Or would you lovingly try to help him or her do the right thing instead?

Standing up against evil isn’t easy. It takes courage and a heart that wants to please God more than man. That’s what John the Baptist had. He didn’t care what people thought of him. He wanted to obey God above all.

But be careful. Standing up against evil does not mean being unkind to others. Just because people sometimes do something wrong, you should never act like you’re better than them, speak angrily to them, tattle just to get them in trouble, etc. Even when you disagree with someone who is doing something wrong, you still need to show kindness.

So stand up against evil in a loving way! (But try not to call anyone a brood of snakes.)

BATTLE PLAN

Talk to your parents about what to do when you see someone else doing something wrong. God gave your parents wisdom to help you figure out difficult situations!