See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. I remember seeing and hearing those words as I grew up. They’d often be matched with monkeys covering their eyes, ears, and mouth.
Somehow, over time, those monkeys faded away. Maybe it’s because it seems like no one really cares as much about seeing, hearing, and speaking evil anymore.
We see evil all the time. We watch horrid images on the news and in movies. I actually detest the month of October on television. It’s hard to find anything that is not “Halloween” related. Every single movie that seems to be on for the whole month seems to be focused on hauntings, slashings, and everything gore and scary. I hate it, hate it, hate it.
We hear evil all of the time. We hear it on the radio. Evil words that come out in the form of an energized song where the artist talks about all of the things he plans to do to a woman. We hear it – again – on the news – and on television. We hear our leaders spewing evil towards one another in the quest to get ahead or put themselves on top or over someone else.
We speak evil. Again – our leaders (who should be speaking words of encouragement, empowerment, and hope) speak evil. Our enemies speak evil over us. WE speak evil.
I’m just wondering – what happened to “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?” It’s not an outdated notion. It’s relevant. Today. In fact, those words (to me) are timeless. They are truth. They are basic. Everyone should live by them.
So what happened?
Look around you. Today as you go about your life, pay attention to where you see evil, hear evil, and where evil is spoken. Stop and pray each time one of those moments crosses your path and ask God to replace evil with good.
We don’t have to continue to passively sit by in a society that now embraces evil. We can reclaim the ground that was stolen – and we can fight to bring back what is moral, upright, and honest.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Beauty in the Storm
Featured Image by Peter Holmes from Pixabay