Don't lose heart

My heart has been so troubled with the state the world has been in lately; I've been starting to question how humans can be so evil. These current events should convict us to examine ourselves and to acknowledge that God is alive and He is worthy of all praise. I couldn't understand how people cannot seem to grasp that and are still continuing to fuel the turmoil and suffering in the world. Then it dawned on me that humans have held the capacity for evil for much longer than just these past few generations. Humans exercised their freedom of choice to murder the son of the living God. Even when Jesus walked the earth as the perfect example of love, there were still people who rejected Him to the point of killing Him. Jesus knew that things would only get worse when He left this world. 

(But turning to them Jesus said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!'  Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.'  For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

Luke 23:28‭-‬31 ESV)

I don't write this to discourage but rather encourage us to keep fighting the good fight of faith because God is faithful to us. There is nothing our God cannot save us from. There is no evil more powerful than God's love. He keeps His promises and His love is boundless. His love is so strong that through Jesus's sacrifice came our salvation. No one else can take an act of evil of that magnitude and turn it into something so pure and good. We can't even fully grasp just what it is that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have done and continually do for us despite failing miserably to be worthy of His grace, and yet we receive it anyway. So we must answer the call of who God needs us to be to accomplish His work for the Kingdom. The point of our lives isn't to try and fix the entire world or to drive out all the evil in it. Only God can do that. Instead, we need to focus on what we can do and who we can help while we're here on earth. 

It can be overwhelming sometimes to see the evidence of how evil humanity can be but we need to remember that despite everything, God still comes out victorious. As long as we are on His side, we will too. Evil can be overwhelming but the love of God is more powerful than any evil we may experience on this earth and that is a wonderful thought. 

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

John 16:33 ESV

fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you."

Isaiah 41:10‭-‬13 ESV