Evil in the World

It's hard to open up any news page today without being inundated with the amount of evil in the world. For example, I just left Fox News where these headlines begged my attention:

Trucker shot to death

Four gunman shoot man

Mother kills son

Man kills wife

etc., etc., etc.

It goes on and on. One must wonder as the stories get more heinous every year, where will it stop? Can it get any worse? However, Scripture says without the Holy Spirit it would be a lot worse.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 we read about the "man of lawlessness" and that he is currently being restrained. It's interesting to me that soon after reading of the atrocities that happen in our world today, I turn to see that they would actually be much worse and more common if not for the restraint of the Holy Spirit. I'm so thankful for the Spirit's work in my life; encouraging me ever nearer to Christ, but never gave much thought to His work in our world on a daily basis.

Imagine the world without the Spirit of God restraining it. Imagine the world without the Spirit of God instigating good in it. We have much to be thankful for; thank you Holy Spirit for every child's smile, every good deed done, every kind word spoken...and thank you for keeping the enemy at bay.