New Church Life March/April 2016 | Page 70

new church life: march/april 2016 physical solution that we can work on by avoiding those substances. Much harder to deal with are the mental processes that are where the true problem lies. So while they may lack the more outward ties to a chemical substance, addictions like gambling, violence or pornography can be even harder evils to face. The hells involved in these evils don’t want us to get free. It seems like our own mind is against us and they encourage that idea. It is hard to realize it, but we don’t need to enjoy those things because we are receiving that enjoyment from hell. It is their enjoyment and only becomes ours if we continue to choose it. Part of the solution is being faced with how bad they really are. We might be able to identify evils as greed, anger and lust, but we need to realize that they are directly tied to theft, murder and adultery. We need to realize that the hells are trying to keep us there by any means they can. If they make it hard for us to change we might give up on trying, or blame the Lord for hurting us when we want to quit. This is the basis of Moses’ complaint, when he was trying to help the Children of Israel, that it seemed like he only made it worse for them. This dynamic seems contrary to the Lord’s love and providence, but we come to the third reason why evil gets worse when we try to fight it. It is actually from the Lord’s providence. Why would this seeming punishment be what the Lord wants? When we first decide to fight an evil or escape from its power, we usually turn to our own strength. Maybe we only are trying to make our lives happier or more manageable. Maybe we think we have the power to conquer evil on our own. These approaches won’t work. The hells are not afraid of us or our power. When the Pharaoh finally let the people go it was not because they asked or threatened, but because of the Lord’s power. If you think about the path of the Children of Israel, it was not until they celebrated the Passover that they were able to go free. That festival represented the Holy Supper and spiritual conjunction with the Lord. When we fight against hell for our own reasons or from our own strength we can’t help but fail, or even make things worse. If we are able to turn to the Lord, recognize evils as sins against Him, and ask for His help we can’t help but win. The hells are terrified of the Lord and His strength. Once they see that we are holding to the Lord, they will not only let us escape from evil but will flee from us. This is the Lord’s goal for us that we have this complete safety, so everything in His providence is leading us to shun evils as sins against Him and putting all our trust in Him and not ourselves. Jesus said: “These things have I spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace; in the world you shall have affliction; but have confidence, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Amen. 172