When we look at the world, we can see a lot of suffering. Every where the cry of suffering humanity is ascending to heaven. But who is to be blamed for all of this suffering? Do I play a part in the world's misery 🤔? In this blogpost, we will take a short look at how misery spreads and our part in it.
The way of suffering.
In the beginning, God made man perfect; male and female He created them and put them in a perfect garden. He gave them a commandment not to eat of the forbidden tree 🍇. But the devil 🐍 came into the garden and he tempted the woman to eat of the tree. The woman was seduced, the devil overcame her and she then went on her own to tempt her husband to follow her in the path of sin. The man ate of the forbidden fruit and the rest is history, suffering is now widespread.
The blame game.
After sin, comes the blame game. The man and the woman blame others for their own actions. The man blames his wife, the wife blames the serpent and God judged them all. Misery then becomes the norm in our world.
So why is the world so evil ? Why is there so much misery in our homes, in our workplace, in our society etc..? Are the sufferings the result of other evil people doing evil or do I play a part in it? The truth is: I do!
How do I play a part in human misery?
I play a part in human misery when I allow myself to be tempted and overcomed by evil individually and then bring misery to the life of another.
Let's look at some examples of how I play a part in human misery.
Let's say I had a stressful day at work, customers, co-workers made my day very difficult. ( That's a temptation) Then I come home and yell at my wife, say unkind words to her and she now feels hurt. I have just made the world a worse place, I have just brought more misery to the life of another. I allowed the burden of work to overcome me, and I was too weak to protect my wife, so evil spread when I am weak to resist it.
How parents spread evil in the world.
Let's say that I am a parent and when I was a child, my parents used to yell at me, disrespect me, abuse me emotionally etc...and I hated it. But now, I have a child and I do to that child the same things that my parents used to do to me, I yell at the child, I disrespect the child and I abuse the child emotionally, I thave hen become a tool in the hands of the devil to spread more misery on the earth. I make my child bitter, angry and violent inwardly. Because I was not healed from my own hurt and pain. I then become a tool in the hand of the devil to spread his deeds. If I don't overcome evil, evil will overcome me and use me.
Final example.
Let's say that you were hurt by someone who claimed to love you romantically in the past, but they betrayed you, used you and left you. And now your heart is hardened and you vow to hurt other people. So you start to go around to seduce other people and leave them. You are now a tool in the hands of the Devil to spread evil. All of the young men out there who are trying to seduce young women so they can have sex with them and leave them are tools of Satan. All the women who are trying to get with men for money, fame etc...are tools in the hand of the devil.
Evil spreads when I am personally overcomed by evil. The devil knows that if he can overcome me with evil, I will then lead someone else down with me. If, as a young man, I struggle with sexual lust and I don't go to God for the strength to overcome that lust; the devil will then overcome me and make me go seduce women, lead them into sin and destroy them through me. Same for a young lady. If lust is not overcomed by the strength of God, the enemy will soon overcome you and use you to seduce others and lead them to destruction. The devil will use your past, your wounds, your addictions, your lust to bring misery in the life of others.
No neutrality! I am either a tool in the hand of God for good in this world or a tool in the hand of the devil for evil. In order to make a positive impact in my home, my community, society and the world, I must by the grace of God overcome the evils in my character, the evils in my heart. If not, the devil will tempt me to use them against others for some deceptive advantage. A strong man is one who allows himself to suffer so that others can be safe. Joseph, when tempted by the wife of his master, fled the temptation, overcame the temptation and later became a blessing to all of Egypt and the world. When you resist evil in your own life, you become a blessing to those around you.
A blessing by resisting.
When you resist taking your fustration on others, you make their lives better. When you resist doing to your child the same things that your parents did to you; things that you hated, you make their lives better. When you resist taking advantage of others because others took advantage of you before, you make their lives better. When you resist your urges to have sex with that man or woman whom you are not married to, you safeguard their purity and make their lives better. To resist personal evil, to spare others from suffering is an act of love, an act of strength, an act of goodness. You are like a person who is holding unto a fallen debris and telling the vulnerable ones to flee. Evil thrive where weakness exist, but true strength keeps out the evil and protect the vulnerable.
So who is responsible for the misery of the world ? We all are responsible for human suffering. So long as I don't bring all my sins, my wounds, my brokenness to God in prayer and allow Him to heal me, Satan will use these things against me and against others. Eve was seduced by the devil directly and Eve became an instrument unknowingly in the hand of Satan for the ruin of her husband. If I allow the devil to tempt me to do any sin, I will then be an agent of his to destroy others. The only way to start making the world a better place is "to submit yourself unto God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you". Friends, let us ask God for the strength to resist evil and to do good.
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