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Your Response to Good and Evil
Amos 5:14-15
"Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph."
According to the verse above, God makes it very plain that there is good and evil. The day in which we live seems to deny the fact that there is such a thing as evil, but whether or not people want to admit this doesn't change the fact the evil exists. However, your response to good and evil will highly determine your success in handling situations. Let me give you several ideas on how you should respond to good and evil.
First, make clear lines in everything that you do. You must not allow gray areas in life. Gray areas tend to lend towards chaos and disorganization. There must be a right way and a wrong way in everything that you do. There is a right and wrong way in handling leadership responsibilities. There is a right and wrong way in how to discipline. There is a right and wrong way on how to live. There is a right and wrong way to everything you do. Therefore, be sure to make clear lines in whatever you do as either the right or wrong way.
Second, look for the good and not the bad in everyone. You will see that God commands in verse 14, "Seek good, and not evil..." If you want fulfilling relationships, then you need to seek the good in every person. If you don't want to live your life second guessing the motives of people, then you will need to make it a point to look for the good in every person. It's not hard to find the wrong, but you will have to purposely seek the good in people. Don't be anxious about finding out the evil about people and the situations in their lives, but be anxious to hear the good about them.
Third, be wise in your knowledge of good. A couple of times in the Scriptures God commands us to be wise concerning good and simple concerning evil. Again, God commands to "Seek good, and not evil..." We are too interested in investigating why something is wrong when we should investigate why something is good. If you will learn why something is good, then you will easily ascertain why something is evil.
Last, be consistent with your dealings of right and wrong. What I mean by this is you need to be consistent on how you treat wrong actions. In verse 15 it says, "...establish judgment in the gate:..." This is teaching us the importance of punishing evil and rewarding good when they happen. When someone does wrong, even if they are family or someone close, you need to be consistent in your punishment of that wrong. If you would punish one person one way and your family another way, then you don't truly hate evil. A hatred of evil will cause you to punish wrong in a consistent manner no matter who commits that wrong. If you truly hate evil, then you will punish wrong consistently.
Your response to good and evil will display how good of a Christian you are. The closer you get to becoming like Christ, the more you will have a hatred for evil. Work hard at being proper and consistent in your treatment of good and evil.