Am I Really Evil?

I’ve been thinking about evil. I’m in this bible study and we are going through the Truth Project, and we are talking about the cosmic battle between good and evil. How we have a misconception that man is inherently good. On the contrary, the bible says that man in this fallen world is inherently evil. I think that the average person would not see themselves as evil. Why? Because we associate evil with the extremely bad, twisted and disturbed, like Hitler, Terrorists, Serial Killers of somebody like that. I think most people would say they commit sin and do bad things, but evil or wicked seems kind of extreme doesn’t it.

Although I think there is a spectrum (meaning some things are worst than others), most likely our definition of evil must be a bit off if God sees fallen man as evil and we think we are generally good people who occasionally do bad things. I think at the basic level evil its being disobedient and rebellious toward the ways, order, authority and purposes of God. How did sin start? Adam didn’t kill anyone, he was disobedient. That is when we do evil in God’s sight. Humanity basically wants to do what it wants to do and wants to follow our own desires. Isn’t that the story of Israel? Isn’t every other page in the old testament about God saying this is how to live, what you should do, what you were made for, trust me and Israel continually went their own way. And the Old Testament continually says “and they did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” If we define evil in a spiritual sense is disobedience toward some principle of God, I think we would see ourselves as we really are, with evil and rebellious hearts, hating God’s order and preferring our own (however destructive and unproductive it is).

If we look around at the war, famine, disease and poverty going on throughout the world we would agree, that man is pretty evil and selfish. How about the sad part is that we do not even know the depravity of our own hearts. God does, and that is why he has purposed to give new hearts and minds to those who submit to him. That’s why we need his word to store in our hearts and minds, so that we can replace our evil thoughts and desires (which are embedded in lies) with God’s truth. So I think my prayer will be that God actually show me the wickedness in my heart so that I can see myself for who I really am and go to him to be changed.