Necessary Evils

Do you know what we call a “necessary evil”?

It’s something bad that has to be done in order to accomplish something good. Parents discipline their children so they'll learn right from wrong. Soldiers go through deprivation and grueling training to be prepared. Cancer patients go through chemotherapy to rid their bodies of cancer.

Necessary evils are part of our fallen world. 

We brought evil into God’s perfect world. And instead of destroying us, He decided that the difficulties of our present world were necessary evils for identifying and saving those who genuinely love Him.

When people say they can't believe in a God who allows evil and suffering, they are merely identifying themselves as the unforgiven and the unredeemed.

But those of us who have been saved are grateful for the most important, most terrible, most wonderful necessary evil in all of history: the death of our Lord.

Oh, what good we enjoy because of that evil thing which we made necessary!

I encourage you to ponder these passages today:

1 Corinthians 6:20: "You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."

2 Corinthians 5:21: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

1 Peter 2:24: "'He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; 'by his wounds you have been healed.'" 

Isaiah 53:5: "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." 

Isaiah 53:10: "But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands."

Bible Love Notes