3 John 11
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.  He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

We don’t like to use words like “evil” nowadays.  Sometimes we try to be so politically correct or non-offensive, so we only reserve it for the truly despicable.  Rarely will we hear the word “abomination” to describe those things that God considers to be such.  We don’t want to be too extreme.  We don’t want to hurt any feelings.  But the truth is, there is evil, and it is raging all around us and trying to silence the voice of truth.  By pretending that evil doesn’t exist, we only allow it to grow and spread.  By ignoring it, we leave ourselves vulnerable to it.

And evil is not reserved only for Satan and his demons and those people who do things that almost everyone would be appalled by.  Evil is the absence of good, and good only comes from God.  Evil opposes God.  Evil and wickedness are those things which deny God and His truth and the righteousness of a holy God.  So if we want to please God, we can’t follow evil people or their practices.  We can’t stray from the good path to follow after some unrighteous thing that would go against God and His ways.  We must be diligent to follow the truth so we don’t fall into their trap.

Maybe we need to start calling more things evil and stop making them so acceptable to us as Christians, God’s children.  If it’s evil, we shouldn’t follow it or take part in it.  If it opposes God, we shouldn’t approve of it.  If it denies any part of God’s truth, we can’t accept it.  And it may seem extreme to try to live this way, but we can’t have both.  God does not dwell with evil, and He will not have evil dwell with Him.

As Christians, we need to be very discerning, especially as things get a little muddled and lines are blurred and everybody tries to make everything acceptable.  But evil shouldn’t be an acceptable part of our lives if we want to be godly and live righteously and do those things that please God.  He takes it very seriously, and so should we.  So may our conduct align with that.  May our choices reflect that.  And when those battle lines are drawn, may we always choose good over evil.