An Evil World

We live in an evil world. A world where evil men are growing worse and worse--deceiving and being deceived. They have established their own standards for righteousness--sin. They freely give in to the urgings of their sin nature--iniquity. And they deny the standard of righeousness that God has ordained--they wllingly disobey it--transgression. At the root of it all is a "cunningingly devised fable." What is that fable? Someone has put it this way: "Man is a magnificent promise of what he is going to be." The truth: "Man is a magnificent ruin of what God intended him to be."
But what should be our response to such a world? Surely not surprise. The one who comes as an angel of light is the Arch Deceiver. The Father of Lies. The Liar of all Liars. His "light" is a blinding light--blinding men to the truth that's right before their eyes. We should expect no less. We cannot expect those who do not have the indwelling of the Spirit to think and act spiritually. Unsaved men are not committing spiritual adultery. Only the Bride can commit spiritual adultery. Only the Bride can love the world and the things of the world to such an extent that she becomes unfaithful--loses her love for the Bridegroom--betrays His love by living a life of disobedience.
We, must, like Paul, weep for the enemies of the cross. How horrible to never know His love! How lonely to never walk in fellowship with Him! How desperate to cling to a hopeless hope! We must pray that the only One who can make the blind to see will open their eyes to how deeply He loves them, how deeply He desires to spend each day from now through all eternity with them. how willingly He went to the cross to bear their sins and to set them free from its bondage.
And we must live righteous lives. "The righteous man shall live by faith." We must pray that our faith will be spontaneous and contagious. We must remember that the good works He empowers us to do in His name are the light of the world that penetrates the darkness and glorifies our Father. Our faithful obedience regardless of our circumstances is His instrument to draw men to Him--to remove the scales from their eyes. An unrighteous world desperately needs righteous men and women who no matter what obey--who no matter what love Him.
It is not the time for us to be discouraged but to be faithful. It is not the time for us to hate the sinners we would be had He not opened our eyes to His love and lavished us with His grace. It is the time for us to weep, to intercede on the behalf of others, to live a life that shines. It is time for the purity of the Bride to be undeniable. We must love the world He died for. We must love our Bridegroom with all our hearts and souls and minds and strength. We must make this our daily prayer: "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine . . . hide it under a bushel, No! I'm going to let it shine . . . let it shine 'til Jesus comes, I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine."