Amos 5:14, 15

Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph ~ Amos 5:14, 15


Seek good so that you may live. We are all born with the tendency for good and for evil. The temptation to hate, to be unjust, to be merciless is our “old man” within us, and he will rear his ugly head if we let him. It therefore takes control and our will to put him in his place, and to hate evil of all kinds. If we let go and let even a bit of resentment into our heart, it soon blossoms out of control, and we lose our joy, we lose our friends, and our friends lose us. We cannot maintain hatred and joy at the same time, for it is impossible. Either everything is tainted black, or we rise above and love what is good, and just, and live life with the fullness of joy. When we receive the free salvation of Jesus Christ, our hearts are filled with his Holy Spirit. With His help, we hate what is evil and pursue what is good, for it is the good which draws us closer to our God. Evil is abominable to God, he cannot tolerate it, and as his children we desire to love what God loves and hate what God hates. We are like little children in a home. They see what mommy and daddy do, how they act, how they speak to others and to them, and the best compliment they give to their parent is to mimic them. Of course, children will do what is evil, for they are being good children of their own will, but when we come to Christ and receive his gift of the Spirit, we have help. Galatians 5:22, 23 reads: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Without the help of God’s Spirit, these gifts are not prevalent in our heart or in our actions. Jesus said a good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Seek God and seek good. When this is our goal, life will be ours, and we will live it with the fullness of joy and peace. 

Pastor Julia

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