Yesterday, we wrote about what it means to be a God fearing man and how men that fear God never stray off of the path of Christ because they will lose their connection to God.
Now I don't want people to think that I am becoming a preacher because that is not my goal with this platform.
My goal is to simply make people aware and provide a different perspective on things - maybe in a way that you personally have never thought of before.
With that being said, I do believe in God and the power he has over human consciousness.
For the sake of today's post, I want you to think about something, and that is the concept of good versus evil.
Those of you who do not believe in God or have faith in anything larger than yourself, this one is for you.
I think 99.9% of us can agree that there is pure evil in the world.
We have all seen evil.
We see evil on CNN and all major news stations and social media everyday.
The power of temptation to make you believe that what is being purported by someone else is all there is.
Not to mention, there are people that live and have lived throughout the course of human history with hate in their hearts.
Hating other people for x,y, and z for nothing more than being different, thinking differently, and believing different.
Does this sound familiar?
To me, it sounds like a lot of the internal conflicts that take place in the world we live in today.
The separation between race, gender, political status, sexual orientation, men vs. women, feminism, the rich vs. the poor etc.
The point is, these are things that are constantly being shoved in everyone's faces 24/7 and these types of political issues become the forefront of how people think, feel, believe, and operate within the world.
Forget the fact that we have printed trillions of dollars to give away freely to other countries, while simultaneously tanking the US financial system.
Apparently, it is more important for a man to feel like a woman and change his gender, than it is for people to be able to afford to live.
To me, this is pure evil - the programming of the human mind to only seek out the short term, what is right in front of your face, instead of thinking about the long term consequences.
I mean just think about it, every time the Fed has printed more money to solve financial issues, it has been to bail us out in the short term, which then creates other short term financial problems in the future, hence why they continue to print more money.
As we have discussed in previous blogs, the long term consequences of short term thinking can be catastrophic, both for a society and for humans individually.
The short term gratification, the desires, the lust, all of it is the devil's playground.
The short term is exactly how the devil traps people into taking their minds off of what they are truly capable of and what is really out there.
This then brings about the question then as to what is good?
Well, since we know that evil does exist, then we know that God has to exist because God is good, and there is no good greater than God.
So, even if you are one that doesn't think that they believe in God, if you believe in good, you believe in God by extension.
When you really think about it, the only reason we as humans have any baseline of moral standards is because of God.
We are able to distinguish the difference between good and evil because of God, not because you were taught manners by your parents growing up.
We inherently know right from wrong from thousands of years of wisdom that has been passed down and continues to be passed down, and it you think that I am wrong, I suggest you open up a Bible and let it speak for itself.
If you think that I am wrong, open up and read the book of Proverbs and you might change your mind.
The book of Proverbs is proverbial wisdom that has been passed down for thousands of years to give humans a moral compass and understanding of life.
The point is, if we know that evil exists, then we know good has to exist because of the universal law of equal and opposite forces.
So the question then becomes: how can good fight against evil?
Well, I think the battle of good vs. evil is always going to take place as it is just a part of human nature and life on earth in general.
But we fight evil by thinking and planning for the long term.
I personally do not believe that we can discuss the importance of short term vs. long term enough.
We know that short term thinking, desires, and lust all get people into trouble and often effect their behaviors later on in life.
The more that you practice the here and now, the harder life will be the older you get.
But if you plan for the long term, you act now so that you can reap the reward later, the path of fulfillment and peace is within your reach.
This doesn't go without mentioning that there are some cases in which just living in the present moment is what the human spirit genuinely needs.
Whether it is enjoying a sunrise, taking a moment of gratitude, praying to God, or having an intimate moment with your partner, it is important for humans to just be able to stop and take in everything that God has given them in those moments.
If you only think about the long term and you never stop to take in simple here and now moments, then you will create anxiety for yourself never feeling like you are going to have what you want.
This is if you stay true to who you are, stay true to God and choose to serve him, he will naturally lead you down the path of peace and fulfillment.