What Causes Evil?

This weekend I was able to pick up the movie Maleficent and watch it.  I was compelled at this re-imagining of old story of The Sleeping Beauty, and found the new twists to be believable.  Be careful, there are spoilers in this post, so don't read any further if you still want to see this movie.  

We see Maleficent as a young girl fairy who shows happiness and peace within her magical kingdom.  We see her grow up and fall in love with a man who winds up betraying her for his own ruthless ambition.

He stole her beautiful fairy wings.  She was crushed and left feeling only hatred, bitterness, rage and a thirst for revenge.  Maleficent could not see past her rage, and made many terrible decisions, including enacting a curse on the man's daughter, one that would cause her to sleep forever, except by true love's kiss.  She lived many years in a bitterness that did not break until she became surprised at a growing feeling of affection for a little girl.  

The reason this movie fascinated me is simply because I have seen this happen in real life.  Oh, I don't mean I have seen men steal fairy wings (wink).  I mean I have seen good people change and slowly turn wicked after experiencing a trauma they could not heal from.   These are people whose minds have been taken over by the obsessive thinking patterns of the person who wronged them or the traumatic event itself.  These people allow anger to fester, and that anger grows into rage.  Over time, these people are noted to be bitter.  If you think about it, you may know someone like this, with wounds that remain raw and unhealed.  Perhaps you have seen them make bad decisions regarding sinful behavior.  

Is a person like this lost forever?  No.  Is a person like this sentenced to be forever evil?  No.

God provided us the ultimate Healer in Christ.  He is there.  He hears our pain, and then takes our pain when we are ready to release it.  He then helps us learn how to forgive.  It is not easy to do this, and harder to do alone.  Find a church that offers small group study focusing on these topics.  Some churches offer a Celebrate Recovery group.  My church, Life Foursquare, offers two different healing groups: DivorceCare and GriefShare.  It's not about the name of the group, but it is about finding believers who are safe people to release these burdens without fear or judgement.  It's all about finding the person who loves the person you are behind the bitterness.

It is never too late to let go of bitterness, rage and sinful actions.

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.  Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." ~Ephesians 4:31-32 (NLT)