Defeating Evil

Every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 5:4-5

THERE’S NO DOUBT that evil exists in the world today. More than a concept or an intellectual point of argument, evil impacts us all in a myriad of ways. We can see the presence of evil in historical events, for example. Wars have been fought because of evil men with evil ambitions. Entire cultures have been threatened through the evil of prejudice, discrimination, and hate. Even the natural world has lashed out with outbreaks of evil in the form of natural disasters and disease.

Today we can see evil on a large scale through practices such as sex trafficking, where millions of young people are abducted and sold into a life of slavery. We see evil when illegal drugs are distributed to children or when people rise up to oppress others because of greed or ambition or the love of power.

Evil doesn’t exist exclusively on a large scale, however. We are all intimately associated with evil in our own hearts. If we’re honest under the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit, we know we all think evil thoughts. We all take evil actions in our own self-interest. We all sin against God and against our neighbors.

How comforting, then, to know we aren’t forced to succumb to the evil of this world—to the evil in our hearts. We can fight back! The promise of 1 John 5:4-5 is that our choice to follow Jesus will strike a blow against evil. We are engaged in a battle against the evil of this world, and God has already promised victory for us even as we follow him and lean on his strength.