In his classic book entitled Knowing God, J. I. Packer talks about how we receive guidance from God in living this life, the choices we make, and the roads we travel down. He says it is quite plainly by turning away from evil and doing what is good.
In Isaiah 1:16-17 God told the people of Isreal, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.” Many times throughout the Old Testament, God sent prophets to the nation of Isreal telling them “STOP doing evil and START doing good!” In James 4:8, James instructs us – “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts…” Cleanse your hands – STOP doing evil. Purify your hearts – Learn to do good!
Now, lest we say, “Oh, I don’t do anything EVIL! I may do some things that aren’t right now and then, but I’m NOT EVIL!” Evil just means “bad” or contrary to “good”. When the Bible talks about doing evil, it simply means doing what is contrary to God’s Word and God’s commandments for our lives. So, STOPPING doing what is evil is pretty plain – STOP doing it! Don’t make any provision for your flesh to do what you know is wrong, don’t put yourself in positions where you know you will be tempted to do evil. Don’t feed your flesh with garbage and temptations. STOP DOING EVIL!
But, don’t just stop doing evil….put something in it’s place! START doing good! Or as Isaiah puts it, “LEARN to do good!” Unfortunately doing “good” doesn’t come natural, we have to seek after it. We have to make an effort through the help of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to do what is right. For most people it’s not that they don’t know what is right, it’s simply that they don’t put any effort into DOING what is right.
Take for example, riding a bike. Most people don’t just pick up a bike when they’ve never ridden one before and just go off riding. We have to LEARN how to ride it. We learn how to balance ourselves on the bike, we learn how to steer the bike, and we learn how to stop the bike, etc., it is a process. But even after we’ve learned how to ride it – we always have to pay attention where we are riding so we don’t pull out in front of a fast moving truck, ride the bike off a cliff, etc., it takes effort. And the same is true with the Christian life. It takes effort…LEARN to do good!
How do we learn to do good? By reading God’s Word, by praying, and by applying what we’ve read to our lives. AND by STOPPING doing what we know is wrong! If we want to find our way in a dark room, what’s the best way to do that? TURN ON THE LIGHT! GET RID OF THE DARKNESS!!
Cease to do evil…learn to do good!