The Evil Within
Within the heart of everyone
There lurks an evil mystery.
Undermining good intentions,
Spurring on to malefaction.
God declares, our hearts are wicked,
defiled by sin and selfishness.
Yet in our sight we are upright
With a modicum of malice.
Sinning for the sake of sinning
Not just occasional misdeeds,
But delight in sin and evil,
was Augustine’s apt conclusion.
Solzhenitsyn clearly saw it
As he lay in Russian gulag.
The line between good and evil
runs right through every human heart.
Even gangster Mickey Cohen
thought he was a decent fellow.
With no need for transformation,
Or God’s gift of soul salvation.
Deny not the evil within
Treat it as a venomous beast.
Plead like Paul for God to free you,
Give you grace, to eschew evil.
Copyright © David Richmond | Year Posted 2023
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