A Necessary Evil?

Humanity often uses the phrase “necessary evil” to rationalize the need for horrific acts required to achieve what they deem a greater good.  

The movie Kingdom of Heaven, set during the Crusades, provides an example of this rationalization. Balian is a good man who could help turn things around if he were king. But the only way for that to happen would be for him to consent to a plan where the evil king is murdered and he then marries the king’s wife, Sibylla. When Balian refuses to go along, Sibylla responds with these chilling words, “There'll be a day when you will wish you had done little evil to do greater good.” 

It’s a lie the enemy often tempts us with—whether in huge decisions or in “little white lies.” He reframes our view of reality, as he did in Eden to Adam and Eve, where we are orphans at the center of a story where God is absent, uncaring, or irrelevant. We’re on our own and compromise appears to be the only way to turn things around. 

Except it isn’t. Jesus, In his most well-known prayer, forever defeats this misguided way of thinking by teaching us to pray for God’s will to be done as we ask God to deliver us from evil. Both work together.  

God never leaves us alone or needs us to make trade-offs with evil to accomplish his plans. Paul reminds us that we never have to entertain evil, play by the world’s rules, or take matters into our own hands when we stay with God: No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. (1 Corinthians 10:13 MSG)

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