What was Jimmy thinking?

There are some who like to blame God for evil in the world. I do not think He is the cause because I do not think Him capable of it. I do not blame Him any more than I blame a talking snake in a garden. One must remember mankind was present in the conversation and all that was offered was a choice, and upon it, rationality entered the story. Only at this moment did mankind become too aware of his power to satisfy his desires. This knowledge of rationality (good and evil as described in Genesis) became a palpable reality for which he was unprepared.

I would liken this to young twelve-year-old Jimmy who took the keys to the Buick, figured out how to start the car, slid forward to reach the pedals, pressed the gas, and with abandon, accelerated. Of course, he was not ready. Neither had he developed the size and judgment to navigate the roads and traffic. The wreck and the damage became inevitable. Something like this happened in the garden.

And by eating from the tree, rationalizing desire plays out everyday in the mind of every human. The only end to every rationalization aimed at any selfish motive is to convince myself or someone else of the benefits of the aim. This is how good becomes evil and how we can call evil good.

Certainly, there is a good toward which rationality may seek. The problem is we are too convinced of our own good. But there can be no good apart from doing God’s will. Apart from it, there is no good, only gradations of rationalizations be them benign or egregious. Only by seeking God’s will (and I don’t mean fate or outcome) can we in the attempt chance becoming sons and daughters of God.

Satan never needs to tempt the person who tempts himself with his own good. But God is always present to remind us not just by miracle but also in the everyday occurrences of those petty annoyances when we forget to whom we belong, what George MacDonald describes as “the delivery of men out of their lonely devotion to themselves.”

A life in Christ is a call to rise above our situation by following Him. And this means laying aside every desire that is at the heart of every conflict between people and peoples, every rationalization justifying our own good or anything other than what God wills, that is, love, forgiveness, atonement, and redemption—a heart of mercy, the character of God.

Too easily do we today use God as an accommodation for our rationalizations. The spectrum is wide and varied. We are guilty. We are industrious. Conformity to what we desire is the unspoken excuse. Only can we conclude the way by which we navigate our justifications becomes the means to separate ourselves farther from God and claim our own wills to be His or to recognize our inclinations and submit our efforts to His teaching and actually do what He says.

“Those who have ears to hear, let them hear,” (Matthew 11:15, NKJV).