Booger McLovin

To understand why evil exists, you must first understand what true love is. True love always carries a risk. It risks not being returned. It risks being rejected. Without that risk, love becomes nothing more than forced obedience, and forced obedience is not love at all.

It is much like freedom of speech. If one is truly free to speak, then one must accept the possibility of hearing something offensive. The risk is part of the gift.

God is truly loving. Out of that love He created the universe and called it good. He filled it with everything needed for life, and then He placed life upon it. In time He created man and woman to dwell in it. God already knew what their choices would be, for He knows all things. Even before mankind’s first breath, God had seen rebellion. Many of His angels had turned away long before man’s creation.

And yet He made us. Why? Because love that refuses risk is not love. God loved us enough to give us the choice to love Him back. It is not His desire that any reject Him, but it is the cost of true love.

When God gave mankind dominion over the earth, He also gave responsibility. Without His guidance, man’s heart will always drift toward self-interest. The further from God we go, the closer we draw to evil. As Scripture says, “There is a way which seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

Some will ask about what is called “natural evil,” such as earthquakes, disease, or disasters. The truth is that the whole creation has been affected by sin. “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now” (Romans 8:22). Creation itself has been marred by rebellion, and so we live in a world where suffering exists. This will not last forever. God has set a day when evil will end. Until then, His invitation remains: “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

When we find Him, we discover more than an answer to the problem of evil. We find the One who has conquered death and will destroy evil completely. His desire is that when that day comes, you will be with Him forever, not because you were forced, but because you chose Him freely. That is the love God wants, and that is the love He offers you now.