We should want to be freed from vice not to escape affliction, but because it is detested.

If we will spend all of our time and energy on doing the dos, we will not have any time to do the don’ts. True discipleship is always on-the-job training. Actions don’t just speak louder than words, they either validate or disprove our words. I know all this intellectually and have long taught such things proving the old adage, “Those who can’t do, teach.”

A passage of scripture I meditate on regularly is Paul’s lament from Romans: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.” (7:15-20) I find great comfort in the fact that Paul struggled so. I find these reflections compelling and true.

So, what to do about it? Get on top of it. Prepare for it. Defend against it. I often talk about fore-giving – being tolerant and forgiving ahead of the offense instead of reacting to it. We know we are going to be tempted, tested, tried, annoyed, frustrated, outraged, antagonized, assaulted, insulted, ignored, and irritated numerous times each day, especially in community. We know it. It’s coming. It’s constant. So how will we respond rather than react? On my good days, I do this very well. I pray a lot for more good days.

The English word “evil” is not nearly as textured and nuanced as the Greek terms and concepts from which we translate. When Paul advises us to “hate what is evil,” he is actually reminding us to be made physically ill by evil, to be nauseated and offended by it, to view it as the absolutely most despicable of the awful and bad. The hope of Jesus and the teaching of Dorotheos of Gaza is that we come to a realization that there is nothing good about bad, holy and evil, and tempting about the contemptible. Once our eyes are open to evil, it will lose its hold on us, freeing us to embrace and be embraced by the good, the beautiful, and the true.

Those who lived during the ancient Advent period were binary thinkers – all was good or evil, light or dark, right or wrong, holy or filthy. The history of the Hebrew people and the post-exilic Jews was evidence and proof that human beings are incapable of making the right choices and keeping covenant. They/we need help. We need a Savior. We need a guide. We need God’s own Spirit if we are ever going to escape vice for virtue. In this Advent period, where can you give more time and attention to the good, the beautiful, the true? Are there vices you are aware of that give you a false sense of value? Can you identify one positive change you would like to make, that could become the focus of your prayers throughout the coming year?