Good and Bad

What stuck out to me in today's passage was a line that was repeated a couple of times or variations of it.. v. 14 “Seek good, not evil..” and v. 15 “Hate evil, love good..”

This reminds me of a part of what Jun JDSN said in yesterday’s sermon, “There are two part of me, a human Jun, and a holy Jun.” And that also reminded me of what Jonathan said when we were praying in the EM service, “There are two sides to us, a good monkey and a bad monkey.” To seek and love good is to feed the good monkey, however when seeking evil and loving evil we feed the bad monkey.

When we give into our fleshly desires, we feel the evil monkey that hides in our closet aka, our hearts. Whether it is driving 25 miles over the speed limit or buying the super expensive sweater at the mall, we are feeding into our own desires and giving into idolatry. With all the temptations in the world, it is hard to not feed that monkey.

I guess asking for forgiveness is like relieving the bad monkey of all the food. By repenting the bad monkey loses its nourishment and the good monkey can now be fed. This can happen anywhere. It should happen especially before service because with the bad monkey full and happy you'll focus on what makes you fleshly happy. This is what the people of Israel did. They were not worshiping with unpure hearts and God was unhappy.

So when I go into worship i want to make sure i have a pure heart and at that time i ask for forgiveness and hope to not fill my evil monkey so much..