New Morning Mercies #191

The scary deception of sin is that, at the point of sinning, sin doesn’t look all that sinful.

We lose sight of the sinfulness of sin or the evil of evil, and when we do, we are vulnerable to the seductive lies of temptation. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why there are stories like this in the Bible:

And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:14–29)

In stories like these, God is lovingly confronting us with two things—the shocking evil of evil and the only place where deliverance from it can be found. Examine the graphic descriptions of what evil is doing to this boy. Nothing good ever happens when evil is in control of a person’s heart. Sin really is a scary, horrible thing. Evil is ugly and destructive, and must never be minimized. You just can’t read this story and wonder if evil is so evil after all. This story is meant to put a holy dread in your heart. But it is meant to do more. It is meant to assure you that delivering grace is a reality. No matter how great the sinfulness of sin is, God’s grace is greater. No matter how powerful the evil of evil is, God’s delivering power is greater. We should fear sin in a moral sense but not in a defeatist sense, because of the powerful delivering grace of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you live with this balance?

For further study and encouragement: 1 Samuel 13