15 Let death take my enemies by surprise;
let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
for evil finds lodging among them. Psalm 55:15

What do you do when you hear about evil deeds being done? If you read the news long enough you’re going to come across hideous and heinous acts of sin that very few people in the world would ever consider committing. But there it is, staring you in the face. So, what do you do? What is our response? What should our response be?

Heinous acts of evil should shock us, but we shouldn’t be surprised that it exists. If we’re honest with ourselves, our first reaction should be to want to lash out and do what we can to punish the perpetrators, especially when there are sins committed against the more vulnerable among us. It’s a normal reaction…or it should be. Too often when great egregious sins are committed (such as a school shooting), there is a rush to healing before grieving and anger has had a chance to set in. Yes, I believe anger is a good thing in these instances because it an appropriate response to sin.

In this world, evil will continue to increase as men and women forsake God. Our reaction to it when it occurs says a lot about us.

Do we ignore it?

Do we say it could never happen to us?

Do we fight it tooth and nail with every resource we can muster?

Or do we begin to embrace it because we’ve gotten so used to it?

“Sin is a monster of such awful mien
that to be hated needs but to be seen
but seen to oft familiar of face
we first endure, then pity, then embrace.” -Alexander Pope