Some of us remember when the world’s suffering was relegated to one hour on the nightly news.

We watched a sober-faced newscaster recount famines and wars and disasters in far-off places with sorrow in our hearts, and then we returned to a sink full of dishes or our algebra homework and the horror faded as the immediate pressed in.

Now, though, we have the internet. We see the terror in real time, and sometimes we even have friends in these far-off places, our relationships facilitated by our cyber-connectedness.

The suffering pierces our hearts.

It is shocking to witness evil’s horrors. Where we may be able to justify impersonal bombs dropped from a distance, nothing can rationalize murdering terrified children in their beds, face to face.

Some people believe that we are all inherently good. That circumstances are to blame for forming the haters and murderers among us.

Some people believe that there is no absolute truth. That right and wrong is the collective agreement of a culture which can, and does, change over time.

Beginning with the Enlightenment, we were taught that education would solve the world’s problems and science would lead us to utopia.

But this week we witnessed the brutality in Israel, and realized that before those horrors there was Afghanistan and Syria and the Rohingya and the Yazidis and the Uighurs and Rwanda and Uganda and South Africa and Northern Ireland and….on, and on, and on. No country or culture has been innocent of inflicting terror on another.

Science or education or the latest economic theory hasn’t solved the problem of evil. Neither has religion. Denying its existence hasn’t changed anything, nor have laws and “me too” movements.

Evil is real and it is staring us in the face. It cannot be legislated or medicated or rationalized away. It is a force that exists in every corner of the world; among all peoples, for all of human history. And we either surrender to its power, or we resist it; a cosmic conflict where neutrality is not an option.

But it has an end, and that end is closer now than it’s ever been.

There is a God who will call to account; who will wipe away tears; who will step in one day when it seems that evil has finally won. Who has already stepped in to give notice that hope is not lost, and that day is coming.

The real war to be won is not on battlefields or in courtrooms. The problem is inside of us. The war that starts all other wars rages in the human heart.

What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.

Jesus, in Mark 7:20-23

The world may declare an armistice here or sign a treaty there, but evil’s poison remains to spring up in other places. Israel can bomb one branch of terrorists to smithereens, but others remain. And other evils, like human trafficking and the pornography industry, cross all national boundaries. The pain of domestic abuse transects all cultures.

There is only one way to conquer evil at its very root: you and me, in the power of the Spirit, choosing humility and love this day. This hour. Loving our enemies and praying for our persecutors even while we hold the line against their actions.

“As surely as I live,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.”

Ezekiel 33:11

Whether we are called to bear arms against a physical enemy or open our arms to the neighbor who hurt us, we who follow Jesus are to be directed by a love that is stronger than evil, than hate, than fear. Than even death.

We may feel helplessly removed from the suffering confronting us in Israel, but we have ample opportunity to love right here, if we are willing. Jesus spoke of a visit, a meal, and a cup of water. Let’s not forsake the things we can do out of frustration over the things we can’t.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:21

Each candle of kindness that we light, however small, helps to push back the darkness. Each whispered prayer is heard in heaven. Every encouraging word is kept on account until the day comes when evil is dealt with, this broken world is made new and our healing comes at last.

And, make no mistake—that day will come.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.

Revelation 20:11-13