By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Evil.  It fills our world.  It fuels the current disturbances in the Middle East and the attacks on Israel.  Evil is real.  Evil is prevalent.  Evil is in each one of us.

I took this photo at one of many displays in the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.  The two figureheads here are Mussolini and Hitler.  This picture represents pure evil itself.

But neither of these men started out this way.  They were born as little babies, just like we all are.  They were loved, rocked, probably read to and sung to.  And, they were taught.  Taught what?  Well, they were probably taught right from wrong.  They were probably taught to be kind to the other neighborhood boys and girls.  They were probably taught, and their parents probably hoped, they would turn out to be decent human beings.  So what happened?

Evil.  Sin.  They gave in to temptations at the whim of the devil.  They took the wrong path – that same wrong path that so many of our own friends and loved ones have taken – that same wrong path that we ourselves have traveled from time to time.  The difference is that Mussolini and Hitler stayed there.  

But by the grace of God, there go I.

We are just coming off of the Thanksgiving holidays, and we are heading full force into the Christmas season.  We concentrate on all that is good.  We are thankful for all that the Lord has done and has given.  We give Him praise for all the blessings.  And we certainly should.

But how many times do you thank the Lord for keeping you from the evil of this world?  How often do you stop to think how close you’ve come to walking in the same evil shoes that those two historical figures did?  

This week, don’t forget to thank the Lord for keeping you from the evil you never knew existed, the difficulties He headed off at the pass, the problems He blew in another direction away from you.  Know the evil.  Learn from what it has caused.  Then travel another direction and thank the Lord for His protection.

Just a thought.