God created us with free will. The capacity to choose the path for our own lives. That means we are not obligated to unite our will or lifestyle to the will of God the Father, our creator. Hence there is a lot of evil in the world. There are many evil people, who dedicate their lives to their own benefit without considering how that affects other people or the natural world. Greed, corruption, destruction, violence, vengeance, and selfishness are the mainstream of their lives. Lies, political manipulation, threats, wars, blackmail, gossip, and bribes are their forms of relating to others. Many people even seem to enjoy causing damage and grief to others and the natural world. Many people even use and do evil hoping to produce something good in the end. Others seem to vacillate between good and evil. They don’t seem to be “children of the Evil One”, but given a difficulty in life, they will choose violence to protect themselves or gain a perceived need. We are surrounded by weeds, the Devil, and the children of the Evil One.
Jesus points this out to his disciples in parables and later in direct explanations. Overall, this would seem to be a pessimistic view of life. But Jesus shows us our Christian mission, a profound hope amid despair. A Christian looks at what the human race has done with the created reality with all its ugliness due to a separation from God’s will and sees the action of God curing the ugliness and recreating it with a new beauty. Jesus, the first fruit of the new creation, sows new life into creation by planting a new seed. You and I forming a local faith community are part of that process of recreation. A Christian looks out at creation and into the human soul always with the hope of the Holy Spirit.
We are called to “shine like the sun”. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian or a Christian family and a non-Christian family should be immediately notable. This difference should involve aspects of our daily life and all our daily choices. The dedication of a Christian to reconciliation, peace, the common good, service to others, self-sacrifice, and joy should be immediately apparent with even a superficial observation.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the Kingdom of their Father.
Image: Canva CJ Dunn 25July2026 AI Generated.