God will soften your heart of stone and protect you from evil

 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”  (Ez. 36:26 NIV)

Delineation between good and evil

When I think of what it means to be hard-hearted and evil, I think of some of the characters I saw as a child in old Disney films, such as the jealous evil queen in Snow White and the wicked Cruella Deville, in 101 Dalmatians. These early Disney films had a very clear delineation between good and evil and left no doubt as to who was good or who was evil.

Not so much today!

The lines have become blurred. One example is the recent Disney movie, Maleficent, which is a sympathetic version of the evil villain of Sleeping Beauty. Instead of being pure evil in this film, she is depicted as being simply misunderstood. I imagine this fuzziness about good and evil is confusing to today's children.

The Bible clearly defines evil

“He went on: ‘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.’” (Mark 7:20-23 NIV)

We must hate and reject evil

“Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 97:10 NIV)

Reject every kind of evil

“Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.” (Isa. 1:16 NIV)

“Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14 NIV)

“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” (James 1:21 NIV)

“But test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.” (1 Thess. 5:21 NIV)

The Lord will rescue you from every evil attack

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (2 Tim. 4:18 NIV)