GOOD verses EVIL > Why do things happen the way they do? Who’s to say for sure? But one thing I know, this planet is about Good verses evil. Pretty much every movie made has something to do with that plot.

Whether it is an action movie, drama, or romance; you have good verses evil in some form. Is there a bad guy to be defeated? A problem to be solved? Or in the case of romance, is our couple about to miss true love because of a misunderstanding? Lack of communication? Good verses evil! Will this couple do the right thing and fall in love?

Sylvester Stallone has produced a movie about a boy who gets lost on a mountain. Based on a true event. A dad takes his boys up on a mountain to camp overnight and hike the next day. Now if that was all that happened, it probably wouldn’t be much of a movie. Very few people would want to pay money to see it. But one of the boys get lost and now you have a story of survival. Now you have a movie! And why is that?

I believe the reason is Good verses Evil is the world we live in. It is our reality. It is what God created for us to learn from, and make our choices. Will we be the good, or the evil in any given situation? Let me illustrate how this REALITY plays out every single day in a multitude of ways. Here is how simple it can be. >

Three years ago I went shopping for a puppy. I fell in love with the cutest little dog I ever saw, and she happened to be a female Beagle. Everything seemed GOOD! But have you ever owned a Beagle? Of course she needed training. Potty outside, so on and so forth. And she loved to run! And I loved watching her run! That baying bark when chasing a rabbit was something to hear! And as she ran, her ears flew and looked like she was running 100 miles per hour. And such endurance! Wow!

But then…she finally wandered all the way down to the neighbor who had free ranging chickens. Oh, oh. Enter drama. Enter a problem. Next thing I knew, the neighbor lady came walking into my driveway to tell me about my Beagle. A problem that had four legs and flying ears. She was nice about it, but I had to do something. Beagle murdering neighbor’s chickens is evil, on my part, not the dog.

So… I put up a 150 foot runner. My Beagle hates it. I can tell she hates it. She fights it all the time. And I hate the fact she doesn’t get to run free. I hate it too. Now what to do? Leave the situation as is? After all, she’s just a dog. She’s got it better than a lot of dogs. But something in me simply says this is not “Good Enough”. My conscience simply won’t let it go. We can make this situation less evil and more good! If we fight the fight to do so.

I’ve chosen this simple illustration because we don’t often think of the battle of Good verses Evil as things like this, but it is! This is the world, that by our own choice, God allowed us to enter and grow in! This is our opportunity! I now find myself at age of almost 70, digging post holes, (25 of them), and now trenching out the ground with a shovel, so the fence is not easy to dig under, and the temperature will be over 90 today with heat factor of over 100! And then, added to that, I was in a different bed in a different room last night and hardly slept! And again, I ask the question, why do things happen the way they do?

Well…I don’t know…but they do. Now what are we going to do about it? Give up? Complain? Not try to make this world a little better place? Just take care of number one and not help anyone else? Good verses evil everyday in a million ways. This is the reality we live in. The truth sets us free. God’s Word is the truth. And God’s Word teaches us what is GOOD, and what is EVIL.

Every Friday I do a bike ride with some other old guys like me. As a matter of fact, at age 69 I’m the youngest in the group! One guy is 90 and still rides a regular bike! We have three that ride E-bikes now, but we do 18 to 25 miles! We always break around midway and eat. Someone brings the devotion, Bible study, for that day. Yesterday, the question was asked by these old guys: “How does one finish well?”

The question was based on Paul’s statement as he sat in prison, that he had completed his course and finished his race. Our teacher this day was pointing out people in the Bible who had done some good things in their life, but did not finish well. He was asking us what “finishing well” meant to us. How about you? Have you thought about it? What does finishing well mean to you?

One thing we assumed by the question was that it meant finishing well in the eyes of God. Because finishing well in the eyes of the world can mean a very different thing. Paul had nothing as he sat in that prison and soon to die. The world would likely say, what a failure! But we are still reading Paul’s words and learning from him to this day! And his words continue making the world a better place, less evil, to this day! Maybe he finished better than this world wants to admit.

We all agreed the proper answer took in a big picture perspective. My answer today is, that every day I rise, I get better at the Lord ordering my steps in His Ways. Constant spiritual growth to the day I die. Today, I’m likely going to be tired, and it is going to be hot, but I will peacefully do what I can to put in more of that fence for a certain Beagle I am responsible for. And tonight we have been invited to a Gospel Sing in the large hayloft of a barn! Our steps ordered of the Lord. The constant battle of Good against Evil in this world.

My wife and I watched the new Snow White movie last night. There was a lot of controversy about that movie. The young actress sure did a lot to shoot herself in the foot and turn people off to seeing that movie. Actually, my wife and I rather enjoyed it. Again, it was a movie about Good verses Evil. (Like all of the best movies.) And the more evil the bad guy is, the more we enjoy it when GOOD wins out!

The Bible tells us God is the ultimate GOOD. And Satan is the ultimate EVIL. Ultimate LIGHT verses ultimate DARKNESS. It also tells us GOOD has already won. It tells us we can have the happy ending and live happily ever after IF we choose God, the ultimate GOOD, through His Son, Jesus Christ, the ultimate salvation. Why this way? Because evil entered us. Evil is in our nature. God calls it SIN. God shows us how we can win against the ultimate Evil. Let us choose LIFE through CHRIST, and WIN! Let us choose the heroic path of GOOD overcoming evil. God overcoming Satan.

Victory already awaits us if we choose right. God warned Cain that evil was crouched outside his door, waiting to pounce on him like a monster if he chose evil. Cain did choose evil. He satisfied his hate, jealousy, and emotions against his brother, Able. He rose up and murdered him. Maybe that felt really good in that moment, his out of control emotions. But then… he now spends eternity regretting his choice to be the bad guy and do evil. Able now enjoys all the GOOD things. He obeyed God in his sacrifices and became the WINNER. Cain is the biggest LOSER. Judas and so many others could be named.

So…what does it mean to finish well? With these thoughts in mind, go and live your day. With the help of my Lord, and the Spirit of God in me, I’m going to go live my day and make the world a less evil place. LIGHT BE! Until the day I die. Amen!