Living a life that Matters

But in real life people are cruel for one of two reasons – either because they are sadists, that is, because they have a sexual perversion which makes cruelty a cause of sensual pleasure to them, or else for the sake of something they are going to get out of it – money, or power, or safety. But pleasure, money, power, and safety are all, as far as they go, good things. The badness consists in pursuing them by the wrong method, or in the wrong way, or too much. I do not mean, of course, that the people who do this are not desperately wicked. I do mean that wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way. – C. S. Lewis

There good people and there are bad people. But I’m trying to wrap my brain around people who have good intentions and bad things to get good things. Maybe they don’t realize their actions or the error of their ways. I don’t get people who are cruel. I have had people do absolutely awful things to me and completely justified in doing it. Is is selfish? How do they get over the guilt? I would think that eventually its got to sink in. It just feels like a short cut to get an advantage over someone in order to get their way.

I wish I could write out what my thought process is over this. But I guess my overall concern is how we should react to people who are cruel or wicked. Everything I read in scripture says not to bring yourself down to their level. It says we are to trust that God is fair and will judge those who do wrong to us.

“My child, do not go down their way, withhold yourself from their path; for they are eager to inflict harm, and they hasten to shed blood. Surely it is futile to spread a net in plain sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood, they ambush their own lives! Such are the ways of all who gain profit unjustly; it takes away the life of those who obtain it!” Proverbs 1:15-19

Ultimately, Satan is a liar! And he uses others to try to knock us down. We need to remember that when others do harm against us. Satan will go to any lengths and will use anything to try to put division between us and God.

“He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44

I was going to grab my pastor before a Bible study last night on this subject. But I decided to wait and see if God would speak to me through his study. And of course… he did. He did an amazing study from Ephesians 4:25-32. I love how he points out that we are to walk with the Holy Spirit and not grieve him. That we are not to let Satan have a oppotunity to cause more damage. Responding in a Christ-like manner will frustrate him. The battle is not against flesh and blood, but ultimately against him. We must be strengthened in the Lord and be ready to stand against these spiritual attacks.