Look For Good

I have just a few words today about a very relevant proverb: “The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes” (Prov. 21:10). There are a whole lot of folks who establish their own righteousness by means of finding fault in others, whether that fault is real or whether it is supposed. It’s called fault -finding, or judgmental, or speaking evil of your neighbor; and it’s all the same ugly thing. There is a simplistic reason for this common ill among religious people, and non-religious people also, for that matter. First of all you might note that our text proverb says that it is “the wicked” who are constantly looking to find something wrong with someone else. That actually explains the problem in itself. As an ancient Chinese proverb truly states: “Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.” I really like that because it is so simplistic and so true. The reason that someone is judgmental and harshly critical of others is because they are naturally drawn to want to find that which is also in themselves, meaning evil. Someone who is truly righteous tries to find the good in other people, and magnify that. And it’s for the same reason as the other, that being that the righteous are naturally drawn toward what is in them, meaning good. Seeing that the wicked are actually justifying themselves by means of the evil that they find in others, they will naturally see those who are truly righteous as being evil. Why? Because they fulfill the saying in Isaiah that says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isa. 5:20,21). The wicked justify themselves in their wickedness and therefore they see the righteous as being evil.

God’s people who are not faithful to God in holiness, have always persecuted the righteous among God’s people. I don’t think we need a better example of this malady than Jesus, and those among God’s people of his day who found ‘evil’ in him: “Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? … Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil” (Jn. 8:48,52). That is correct my friend; Those who were in covenant with God said that Jesus had a devil. I would have to say that is “calling evil good, and good evil.” These are the same people of God that bristled at the 'sinners’ who were drawn to Jesus, and saw nothing but their sins, like the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair (Lk. 7:37-39). Jesus saw someone who was looking to him for a way out of her sins, but they only saw her sins that she had committed. So again, the righteous look for the good in people, and the wicked look for wickedness in people. This is the same principal as “birds of a feather flock together.” People naturally gravitate toward others who are like them, and they also gravitate toward whatever is synonymous with what is in themselves. If the wicked can’t find wickedness in someone, they will invent it, as they did with Jesus. Jesus foretold us about this spiritual disease of the wicked among God’s people, and how it would effect those who are true and real with him: “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” (Mat. 10:25). “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you… Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also” (Jn. 15:18,20).

“They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me” (Jn. 16:2,3). If we want to escape having this condition come upon us, we should heed the scriptures about it: “Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart” (Zach. 7:9,10). “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10). “To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men” (Tit. 3:2). “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?” (Jas. 4:11,12). It should be duly noted that the righteous are not supposed to be passive toward sin, but rather reprove it and call it what it is (Jn. 16:7:11; Eph. 5:11; I Tim. 5:20). Nonetheless the heart of the righteous is looking for good, and will be guided by the principal of the following saying in regard to those who are falling short: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1). The bottom line is that the righteous are given over to the dominion of God’s Spirit which is willing for souls to be saved, and the wicked are given over to the devil’s spirit which is willing for people to be lost. It is that simple, and it is our choice as to who and what we want to be. It is certain that we will be one or the other. Amen.