Just what will it take to bring on an awareness of the evil in this place? We are brought up short by pain. We can allow that pain to change us, to take us to the only sane conclusion, or we can use the mechanisms of denial to avoid the truth.
As a young child, I had figured out, not only that "something's not right" here, but that something was very badly wrong indeed. I was acutely aware of the duality of my own character. (I was judgemental of others who did not do right, but felt my own trespasses were excusable.) Everyone acted opposite of the love of God as revealed in the scriptures. We were "a part of the problem, not the solution."
A passionate nature, inflamed by the love of God, was directed on a life mission from the scripture. Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified in Christ, never the less I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." And Galatians 6:14 "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Because of God's grace, I had died to sin and evil. I did not have to confront and battle my deadly selfishness. I did not have to beat an overburdened heart into submission. I did not have to pay tribute to a wearying material world anymore. He who is dead, pays no taxes. It was not me who lived in my body anymore, but the love of Christ, the one who gave everything for me. My glory was in the giving of Him.
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