“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20, NASB).

There are those in this world who are trying to tell us what we know is evil is good and what we know is good is evil. Sometimes, they do it openly, but more often than not they do it inconspicuously. And, they tell us it’s for our own good. They say it will make the world a better place.

And, before you know it, we develop a tolerance for evil. Sometimes, this tolerance for evil comes in the form of compromise. And, sometimes, this tolerance for evil comes in the name of “tolerance” itself! And then, those who won’t compromise or don’t demonstrate an acceptable level of tolerance are called “intolerant” or “bigot.”

Once we begin to compromise good for evil or we begin to tolerate evil under the guise of good, our discernment gets dulled and it becomes more difficult for us to distinguish right from wrong. We lose our edge for knowing what is right and we begin to accept as right what once we believed was wrong.

And, when a tolerance for evil becomes embedded in our society, our government, our churches, our families and in our personal lives, then we start to become like the evil that we used to hate. The light slowly dims until it becomes darkness.

You may think that it could never happen to you or happen to our society, but it happened to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day! Repeatedly they tried to find reasons to have Jesus arrested and killed, thinking they were doing the right thing. But, He confronted them and told them: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father” (John 8:44, NASB).

This tolerance for evil happens “because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11, NASB).

When you maintain a love for the Truth and a personal relationship with the One who is the Truth, you won’t develop a tolerance for evil.

And do not lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:13, NASB)