But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.

~2 Timothy 3:13 NLT

I knew by her expression we were living with evil.

School had dismissed for Thanksgiving break. Knowing getting together with kids and grandkids would fill the break, my wife and I decided to spend my first day off with her ailing mom. Additionally, her mom wanted to do her Christmas shopping on Amazon and needed my wife’s help.

After an hour of online shopping, my wife totaled the amount her mom had spent and gave her the number. Her mom wrote her a check. Needing that money back in our account pronto, my wife attempted to use the mobile deposit option our bank offers.

That’s when I saw the look on her face. My wife normally checks our account daily—not to see our balance but to ensure no one has committed any funny business. Because of the busyness of the holidays, she had not checked it for the previous two days. Big mistake.

Over the last two days, someone on the other side of the country had used my wife’s debit card number to joyride all over San Francisco using Uber services. Their thirteen charges totaled almost nine hundred dollars—enough to put us in serious financial trouble if the bank chose not to reimburse us.

Immediately, my wife called our bank. In the past, they had done an excellent job of catching potential illegal charges, but not this time. They had no excuse but only apologized. The local bank referred my wife to the fraud department. They replaced our money temporarily but would have to investigate before the funds would actually be reimbursed. Fortunately, they returned our money.

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

~Romans 12:21 NLT

Living with evil challenges the best of us. In our technology-driven world, doing business without a credit or debit card is next to impossible. We do all we can to stay one step ahead of the scammers, but they are typically one step ahead of us. This isn’t the first time our debit or credit card numbers have been compromised.

So, what’s a body to do? We should pray for those who make a living by perpetrating crimes and scams. They know better but aren’t listening to God’s still small voice. We should pray for God to convict them loudly and for them to listen and turn away from their wickedness and to God.

We can also provide a proper example. By letting God lead us and by staying caught up in reading his Word and praying, we can provide the example others need to see. We can live with godliness, even when others choose evil. By doing so, we make our world better by salting and lighting it with God’s love.

We won’t escape living with evil until we experience the new heaven and earth God will create. Until then, we must exude a permeating fragrance of godliness in an evil world.

Think of some ways you can live proactively in these evil days.

Father, as I live in an evil world, show me how to overcome evil with good.

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2024: Living with Evil: Martin Wiles: All Rights Reserved