Evil is present in me ...

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I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! -Romans 7:21-25 NLT

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I think that it is so easy to define evil in terms of terrorism and despotism. No one ever wants to, as Paul does in these verses, admit that evil is present in them. The difficulty is with the way that we define evil. Is a "little white lie" evil even if no one is hurt by it? Is something evil if no one ever finds out? I think that you see the problem. The dictionary say that evil is profoundly immoral, wicked, depraved and malevolent. Hard to see that in us. Yet Paul sees it in him.

The problem is that we can rarely, if ever, see the end result of a sinful act. How could Adam or Eve know that a taste of that forbidden fruit might cascade forward towards the murder of their son? I am sure that General Petraeus did not see how his adultery would ruin all that he worked so hard for. No one can ever anticipate the ways that a sinful act will affect their lives and the lives of others. It is why we must pay attention to "the law of God in the inner man".

Please help us dear Lord. Teach us to defeat the evil in ourselves that we face each day.

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