Love Does Not Delight in Evil

By Ray Hawkins

Being a writer of devotional meditation and surrounded primarily by Romance writers, I had to choose a love meditation. As Christian writers you are an alternative voice in a genre which is fast falling from Romantic love into unrestrained lust.

So it was relatively easy for me to choose the emphasis from 1 Corinthians 13. As writers, you, me are to show how natural human love is enriched, flavoured by and made dynamic by the love of God within. It also protects us from the pervasive power of evil’s language and behaviour.  May the following thoughts be a blessing to all who read them.

Evil is Death dressed up in party gear promising pleasure and power. What it delivers is a dehumanising lifestyle, degraded personality and a destroyed life.

Love has no pleasure in that company or that writing..

There will be concern for but no joy in what such people are doing, where they are headed. They are looking and walking in the wrong direction, moving away from God.  In the last of his negative facets concerning Love, Paul issues a turn around call. You have your part in promoting that call through your writings.

The word used for Evil in the N.I.V. translation actually means unrighteousness. That is, a playing around with spiritual and relational matters which are not right in God’s sight. It’s being seduced by the way the World does things.

How can this happen to Christians, especially writers?

            The answers will be as varied as each of us and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We need to examine our ways in the light of Biblical teaching. There are, however, some general principles which affect us all.

Our soul nature longs to dominate. Depending upon personal strength or cunning, we will use force or manipulation, coercion or lies, to achieve our ends. The freedom which the Gospel offers through forgiveness can so easily be abused with a libertine or jaundiced ‘eye.’ Losing sight of God’s sovereign grace and promises will tempt us to adopt such strategies. The ripple effect this has within our spiritual life and our fellowship is carnal and chaotic.

Living in a world dedicated to Evil we can be fascinated by its Mardi Gras presentation. Such a life style and attitude will make us blind to God’s directions. It will make us deaf to His voice. This is why Love has no delight in Evil. 

Love is not blind. It points out the folly of walking away from God’s standard. It is not deaf. It hears the cries of the abused, the terrified and the hopeless. Love reaches out to them where they are. It calls them to turn around and look again to Jesus.

When this happens a transformation takes place. Jesus does in a person’s life what a reversing of the letters in ‘evil’ produces. He makes a person ‘live’. That’s why Love says, “Look to Jesus and live!”

Focusing on Him makes a disciple of Christ wary of smearing the Name of Jesus with anything unrighteous, whether in word, action or attitude.

Love and Evil are incompatible!

                                                                        Ray (focused on Jesus) Hawkins

RAY HAWKINS, retired after over 40 years as a Churches of Christ minister, enjoys sharing themes from the Scriptures through Devotional writing. Married to Mary, multi-published inspirational romance author, they have three children and five grandchildren. Ray shares his insights in his first two books on Marriage and Children with more ideas to come about ministry and much more. Living in Beauty Point Tasmania Ray heads up a new Christian Fellowship as well as doing relief preaching, community work and writing.

http://rayhawkinsauthor.blogspot.com.au/