Between

 For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.  Matthew 5:45

...."Why is there so much good and so  much bad? Why is there that which is pleasant and that which is tragic and hard to live with? Because the earth lies halfway between heaven and hell. Halfway between heaven's beauty and hell's ugliness."

The human race has been wrestling with the problem of evil since its beginnings. This has led it to question the goodness of God, and ask why, if He is good and loving, does He permit the evil that goes on to continue to go on? The answer isn't complicated but it is made so by the simple fact that humankind doesn't wish to take any responsibility for the entrance of evil into the universe and more specifically, the earth. In Genesis, we're told that God made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, including man and woman, and pronounced it "good." What happened to change that? Simply put, it was the entrance of sin into all of creation, and it entered through the sin and disobedience of our "parents," Adam and Eve. The entire race is now tainted with sin and is fallen, as is all of creation around us. God meant for the human beings He had created to have government over creation. By their sin, they abicated that place and it passed into the hands of the enemy of our souls, Satan. Just as Christ is incarnate goodness, the devil is incarnate evil. He also hates what God loves, and God loves the human race above all else. Through the fall, sin and evil entered into the human experience and we have no power to escape its grasp. That's why we needed a Savior and Deliverer, Jesus Christ. He broke the power of sin and death on the cross and in His resurrection and offered freedom to all who would believe upon Him. Yet we continue on in a fallen world, and the effects of that fall will be upon both those who are His and those who have rejected Him. The difference is that His people have Him to limit and control the works of evil and darkness. Those who are His and those who are not will both experience pain and suffering, but He works in and through it for the good of His people. He enables us to triumph over it and foil all the plans of hell to destroy us. As Tozer writes, we live between two kingdoms. The Kingdom of Heaven, and the kingdom of hell. The first seeks to save and redeem us. The second to utterly destroy us.

There is a great segment that will deride what I've written above. They call it myth and mythology. They say that we are constantly evolving, that we're ultimately good and we will find a way to eradicate evil entirely. Let me ask; where do you see any evidence of that happening? Of it ever happening? Satan used to do his works mainly in the darkness and out of sight. No more. He is blatantly at work everywhere. Violence, murder, the trafficking of women and young men as sexual slaves, drug use, mainstream pornography, and so much more grows by the day. What was thought unthinkable just 25 years ago is finding its way into mainstream acceptance. We have been desensitized to evil and darkness. We are not evolving. We are devolving and the evidence for it is clear. God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are real. Heaven is real. Sin, evil, the devil, and hell are real as well. And we, the human race, live in the middle of both every day. And we will be part of one or the other. In which do you reside?

Maybe this has all made you very uncomfortable. It is a lot easier to reject it all out of hand and deny it. If that's you, I pray you will not. I ask you this; would you ask God that if He is real, would He so move in your life as to show you that He is? Would you ask Him to reveal Himself to you as He is? He will never deny an honest, seeking heart. I was once one who rejected and denied Him. Then, as life between two kingdoms crushed me, I sought Him. I did so because He had always been seeking me. Scripture says Christ came to seek and save that which was lost. He also seeks you. Let Him show Himself to you. Don't live between two kingdoms any longer.

Blessings,
Pastor O