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Our world became “unjust” from the very beginning. Since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, injustice, evil, and unfairness have reigned. The gospel was God’s counter-intuitive solution for our turned upside-down world.
This truth is why it is essential that you think about, interpret, and respond to the problem of evil from a counter-intuitive perspective–God’s gospel perspective. God’s ways are not our ways. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8) What we see and feel in this world is very real, but presuppositionally we must filter what we see and think through the lens of the gospel.
If you do not view the problem of evil through the lens of the gospel there is an excellent chance the badness that is in your world will overcome you or, minimally, your heart will take on the shape of how you view and respond to the evil because you see it through a “non-gospel” lens.
The Lord has judged and resolved the problem of evil. But he did not do it the way you might have expected or the way you might have preferred. He judged the problem of evil by executing his Son on the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). The Lord sufficiently and entirely judged wickedness and then instituted the right order of things.
The beginning of making things completely right began at the cross, while the resurrection proclaims that the execution of Jesus was a success and God will prevail. But it is in heaven that you will see the complete fruition of the victory that Christ has already secured.
But for now, you groan in an evil world while anticipating the future day when the complete fruition of His gospel victory will be yours. Until that time, you should be expressing hope-filled, gospel-motivated worship because of the finished work of the Savior.
What He has begun in you and me, He will bring to a satisfying conclusion (Philippians 1:6). He is working His plan in this world, and He is working His plan into all of His children.
Here is a list of what I call “soul indicators” for the person who has an inadequate understanding, application, and practice of the gospel when it comes to the problem of evil in our world. A person who is not living daily in the good of the gospel may struggle with some of these.
When the gospel is shaping your heart, the counterintuitive nature of “God’s gospel” will give you an “otherworldly” response to the evil that would find no greater joy than to take over and dominate your life. A gospel-centered and shaped person living in a world of wickedness will be doing these things.
The key to drowning out the “noise of unfairness and evil” in your life is to worship God. But “to worship God” can be a trite response to your struggles with unfairness and evil. Thus, before you can adequately worship God, there must be a precursory work happening in your heart.
You will find the absolute key to this “precursory work in your heart” in the gospel. If you have not solved the problems of unfairness and evil through His gospel, there is no way you can have calmness of soul. Here are six progressive thoughts on how to come to that place of “calmness of soul” in an evil-saturated world.
Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.
In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).
