Rom. 12:9 ... "Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good."
There is one final component of Christian character to add to those presented in the previous 17 articles on this subject. It is to make the right choice, which no one can avoid, between following the path of evil or the path of good in one's course through life. This involves the concept of dualism, which views the world as divided into two spheres, good and evil. Behind the good, supporting and promoting it, is God; behind the evil, promoting and supporting it, is Satan. These two beings are diametrically opposed to each other and in perpetual deadly conflict. Satan's goal is to overthrow God and destroy Him, annihilating everything that is good. It is God's purpose to overthrow and destroy Satan, annihilating all that is evil.
God has already won the first phase of this great conflict, (see Rev. 12:9). Satan is no longer in heaven, but he is for sure here on earth, where he continues in fury to wage war against God and all that comes from God. His chief weapon is deception, by which he blinds our eyes to his presence, his ambitions, and his opposition to all that is good. Satan's work in deceiving people is exposed throughout the Bible, and it's quite evident in every sin recorded from Genesis to Revelation. In John 8:44, Jesus was speak-ing of Stan when He declared that "there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies."
Satan's greatest lie is that there is NO difference between good and evil, that everything is relative, and the words good and evil are subjective in meaning. The Bible and the religion it projects are ridiculed because they teach there are "absolutes" and "imperatives" that condemn certain ideas and behaviors. When we are told that the difference between good and evil is nothing but prejudice and intolerance, we are hearing the voice of Satan. It is like what John saw in Rev. 13:11, "I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke as a dragon."
A part of Christian character concomitant to the one being discussed is discernment, the ability to see that good and evil are distinct and opposing forces in everything that moves and operates in the world about us. But there is more to it than just discernment; there is also the accompanying driving urge to embrace what is good and then support and promote it with all the force you can. And that is because we recognize that whatever is good comes from God. Love for God, reverence for God, and faith in God motivate us to exalt whatever comes from Him and then cling to it. This is why everyone who rejects the God of the Bible, who sent Christ here to save us, can never possess Christian character.
It is a character flaw to fail to discern the presence of evil in so much of life about us and carelessly accept it as just a part of our culture. There is a great mixture of evil from Satan in every part of con-temporary life that we have come to tolerate and even adopt as normative -- in lifestyle, speech, cloth-ing, entertainment, grooming, and even in the context of worship. This character flaw will continue until we become serious about what Rom. 12:9 demands of us, "Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good."
