The Absence of Holy

Greetings All,

Our men's group devotional book is one by Dr. Dennis Kinlaw who used to serve as president of Asbury College.  This morning he made a statement that really caused me great pause and continued reflection, "The problem is not that evil is so powerful; in fact, evil only works in the absence of that which is holy."  I have always heard that darkness is not an actual state, it is merely the absence of light.  I hadn't taken that thought the further step that Dr. Kinlaw did this morning to apply it to evil.  On one hand I cannot affirm that evil is merely the absence of holy, because there is some evil so insidious and unthinkable that it is completely independent of the holy, but to suggest that evil only works in the absence of holy is a wholly separate thing.

Where holiness is present, active and flourishing it is much harder for evil to raise its ugly head, not that it can't but it is much harder; however when there is no holiness present, active and flourishing it creates the perfect opportunity for evil to be all three of those!  On one level this makes me a little uncomfortable because it refuses to allow me to merely stand back and point at evil and say, "look, there is evil; we should do something about it;" rather it forces me to look at myself and ask, "Where am I failing to grow in holiness and spreading holiness thus enabling evil to be active and working?"  To suggest that evil only works in the absence of holy is to force us as Christians to become even more determined to spread the love of Christ throughout the world, because where the love of Christ is growing, evil is shrinking.  Will you join me today in pursuing holiness, spreading hope and sharing love towards the vanquishment of evil?

Your brother in Christ,
Faron