The Road to Good and Evil

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 20:2-6

It doesn't have to look bad to be bad.

All of the earth is filled with God’s goodness. It can be difficult to differentiate the good from the bad because God’s good design is infused in everything. Also, Satan’s desire to distort what is good can be seemingly ubiquitous as well. One can look at a carved image and appreciate the design and craftsmanship that went into its creation. The progression moves from appreciating the craftsmanship to serving the objects. Because Satan distorts anything beautiful, God directs not even to make a graven image that can turn your heart away from God. Using our own reasoning, we might conclude that making a graven image is innocent as long as we don’t worship it. However, when we listen to God, He tells us what is good and bad so that we might not sin against Him even in areas where we believe there to be no sin. 

Don’t sacrifice principle for a “higher good.” 

Right is always right, and wrong is always wrong. The ends do not justify the means. God’s word is always the roadmap for morality. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:20-21). The only way to know what is evil and what is good is to know God’s moral road map - the Bible. And once you know the roadmap, you have to follow it. 

Is this something to pray about or something to obey?

If you want to get to Texas, you don’t need to pray about whether or not you should take the road to South Dakota. Justifying going to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore won’t make it a faster, better way to get to Texas. The way to know what road you should take is to look at the map.