This past Sunday in Bible Study it was asked, "Because the devil and demons are real, that means that real evil exists in this world. How do we deal with evil in this world?" The first thing was that we pray, we pray the Lord's Prayer, the morning and evening prayers, the Psalms, Hymns, and we pray for all our needs of both Body and Soul. The Church prays for herself and for her enemies, those who would destroy the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. 

 The second was we deal with evil is forgiveness. We are forgiven by God all of our sins and in turn, we forgive our neighbor everything they do against us and against God. Then, in reading my Treasury this morning, the text was Matthew 7. Jesus says, "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."  Most of the time, we, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, are like lumberjacks, going throughout the forest of our neighbors ready to chop them down because we found a little piece of wood in the corner of their eye. We see a little thing, or maybe even a huge transgression, and we sharpen our ax for the strike. It's far easier to go through life chopping down our neighbor while we point out their wickedness, in order that we may remain in ignorant bliss concerning our own condemnation. 

Rather than running through the forest of this life, ready and willing to chop down as many tress as possible, let us instead hear the Word of Jesus and listen to His voice. He calls us to first remove the log out of our own eye. How do we do this? Well, we don't remove our sins by any willpower of our own. No. If it were up to us, we would continue to add a new log every day. Rather, the Law comes and reveals our logs to us, points out how blind we really are, and removes any justification for our wood filled eyes. The law comes and says, "You are the sinner. Focus on yourself rather than others." The law reveals the guilt of sin and leaves us conscience stricken, and what a joyous thing it is that God loves us and doesn't desire us to remain in ignorance over our sin. When we despair of ourselves, and pound our chest begging for God to be merciful to us, He is. God comes and leaves us not in our sin, but takes all the logs out of our eyes and puts them in His own. Jesus came and took our logged filled eyes and blinded Himself in our sins. He took all our failures, mistakes, and weaknesses and bore them in His flesh and died our death on the cross. That means, that all our sins are now Jesus' and all His righteousness is now ours. When we despair, we should not despair as those with no hope, but rather as those who are children of a merciful God who forgives us unconditionally. 

How do we deal with evil in this world? Well, by dealing with the evil that is within us. This happens when the Law crushes us and the Gospel revives us. There will never be a shortage of logs in our eyes for Jesus. There will always be things that come up that are in need of repentance and forgiveness. And the blessed thing is is that Jesus will never stop forgiving us. He doesn't come as a lumberjack to destroy us, but rather as our Dear Savior to remove anything that would condemn us. 

Peace be with you. May the devil be silenced, the world be hushed, and the Old Adam be drowned anew so that you hear only the peaceful voice of your Savior Jesus who says, "I love you. I forgive you. I claim you as My own forever," Amen.

Jesus' Sheepdog