As Christian counselors,
pastors and people helpers we often have a hard time discerning between an evil
heart and an ordinary sinner who messes up, who isn’t perfect, and full of
weakness and sin.
I think one of the reasons
we don’t “see” evil is because we find it so difficult to believe that evil
individuals actually exist. We can’t imagine someone deceiving us with no
conscience, hurting others with no remorse, spinning outrageous fabrications to
ruin someone’s reputation, or pretending he or she is spiritually committed yet
has no fear of God before his or her eyes.
The Bible clearly tells us
that among God’s people there are wolves that wear sheep’s clothing (Jeremiah
23:14; Titus 1:10; Revelations 2:2). It’s true that every human heart is
inclined toward sin (Romans 3:23), and that includes evil (Genesis 8:21; James
1:4). We all miss God’ mark of moral perfection. However, most ordinary sinners
do not happily indulge evil urges, nor do we feel good about having them. We
feel ashamed and guilty, rightly so (Romans 7:19–21). These things are not true
of the evil heart.
Here are five indicators
that you may be dealing with an evil heart rather than an ordinary sinful
heart. If so, it requires a radically different treatment approach.
1. Evil
hearts are experts at creating confusion and contention.
They
twist the facts, mislead, lie, avoid taking responsibility, deny reality, make
up stories, and withhold information. (Psalms
5:8; 10:7; 58:3; 109:2–5; 140:2; Proverbs
6:13,14; 6:18,19; 12:13; 16:20; 16:27,
28; 30:14; Job
15:35; Jeremiah
18:18; Nehemiah
6:8; Micah
2:1; Matthew
12:34,35; Acts
6:11–13; 2 Peter
3:16)
2. Evil
hearts are experts at fooling others with their smooth speech and flattering
words.
But if
you look at the fruit of their lives or the follow through of their words, you
will find no real evidence of godly growth or change. It’s all smoke and
mirrors. (Psalms
50:19; 52:2,3; 57:4; 59:7; 101:7; Proverbs
12:5; 26:23–26; 26:28; Job
20:12; Jeremiah
12:6; Matthew
26:59; Acts
6:11–13; Romans
16:17,18; 2
Corinthians 11:13,14; 2
Timothy 3:2–5; 3:13; Titus
1:10,16).
3. Evil
hearts crave and demand control, and their highest authority is their own
self-reference.
They
reject feedback, real accountability, and make up their own rules to live by.
They use Scripture to their own advantage but ignore and reject passages that
might require self-correction and repentance. (Romans
2:8; Psalms
10; 36:1–4; 50:16–22; 54:5,6; 73:6–9; Proverbs
21:24; Jude
1:8–16).
4. Evil
hearts play on the sympathies of good-willed people, often trumping the grace
card.
They
demand mercy but give none themselves. They demand warmth, forgiveness, and
intimacy from those they have harmed with no empathy for the pain they have
caused and no real intention of making amends or working hard to rebuild broken
trust. (Proverbs
21:10; 1 Peter
2:16; Jude
1:4).
5. Evil
hearts have no conscience, no remorse.
They do
not struggle against sin or evil—they delight in it—all the while masquerading
as someone of noble character. (Proverbs
2:14–15; 10:23; 12:10; 21:27,29; Isaiah
32:6; Romans
1:30; 2
Corinthians 11:13–15)
Do you
know someone like this?
If you
are working with someone who exhibits these characteristics, it’s important
that you confront them head on. You must name evil for what it is. The longer
you try to reason with them or show mercy towards them, the more you, as the
Christian counselor, will become a pawn in his or her game.
They
want you to believe that:
1.
Their horrible actions should have no serious or painful consequences.
When
they say “I’m sorry,” they look to you as the pastor or Christian counselor to
be their advocate for amnesty with the person he or she has harmed. They
believe grace means they are immediately granted immunity from the relational
fallout of their serious sin. They believe forgiveness entitles them to full
reconciliation and will pressure you and their victim to comply.
The
Bible warns us saying, “But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not
learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do
not regard the majesty of the Lord (Isaiah
26:10).
The
Bible tells us that talking doesn’t wake up evil people, but painful
consequences might. Jesus didn’t wake up the Pharisee’s with his talk nor did
God’s counsel impact Cain (Genesis
4). In addition, the Bible shows us that when someone is truly
sorry for the pain they have caused, he or she is eager to make amends to those
they have harmed by their sin (see Zacchaeus’ response when he repented of his
greed in Luke 19).
Tim
Keller writes,
“If you
have been the victim of a heinous crime. If you have suffered violence, and the
perpetrator (or even the judge) says, ‘Sorry, can’t we just let it go?’ You
would say, ‘No, that would be an injustice.’ Your refusal would rightly have
nothing to do with bitterness or vengeance. If you have been badly wronged, you
know that saying sorry is never enough. Something else is required—some kind of
costly payment must be made to put things right.”
As
Biblical counselors let’s not collude with the evil one by turning our
attention to the victim, requiring her to forgive, to forget, to trust again
when there has been no evidence of inner change. Proverbs says, “Trusting in a treacherous
man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips” (Proverbs.
25:19). It’s foolishness.
The
evil person will also try to get you to believe...
2. That
if I talk like a gospel-believing Christian I am one, even if my actions don’t
line up with my talk.
Remember,
Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2
Corinthians 11:13–15). He knows more true doctrine than you or I
will ever know, but his heart is wicked. Why? Because although he knows the
truth, he does not believe it or live it.
The
Bible has some strong words for those whose actions do not match their talk (1 John
3:17,18; Jeremiah
7:8,10; James
1:22, 26). John the Baptist said it best when he admonished the
religious leaders, “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your
sins and turned to God” (Luke
3:8).
If week
after week you hear the talk but there is no change in the walk, you have every
reason to question someone’s relationship with God.
Can an
evil person really change?
Part of
our maturity as spiritual leaders is that we have been trained to discern
between good and evil. Why is that so important? It’s important because evil
usually pretends to be good, and without discernment we can be easily fooled (Hebrews 5:14).
When
you confront evil, chances are good that the evil heart will stop counseling
with you because the darkness hates the light (John 3:20) and the foolish and evil heart
reject correction (Proverbs 9:7,8). But that outcome is far
better than allowing the evil heart to believe you are on his or her side, or
that “he’s not that bad” or “that he’s really sorry” or “that he’s changing”
when, in fact, he is not.
Daniel
says, “[T]he wicked will continue to be wicked” (Daniel 12:10), which begs the question, do
you think an evil person can really change?
Content taken from the article 5 Indicators of an Evil and
Wicked Heart by Leslie Vernick
No comments:
Post a Comment