First, understand that God is NOT the author of evil. Evil stems from the rebellious hearts of man. Man has to make choices throughout each day, to either obey God, or rebel against Him. Evil is a manifestation of that rebellion. Those who choose to follow God, make choices that build people up, advance the cause of God on this earth, are positive. Those who choose to reject God, make choices that destroy people, oppose the plan of God for this world, and are negative. To be blunt, those who follow God are good, those who choose to reject God are evil. This may sound harsh, but evil can ONLY come from those who are in rebellion to, and reject God!
Satan is the embodiment of evil. He rejected God and was cast out of Heaven, and his entire purpose is to oppose the work of God. Satan is the poster boy for rebellion against God/evil! The simple fact is that any time that you rebel against God in your life, any time that you reject His way, you contribute to the evil that is in this world. Evil ONLY EXISTS because of the rebellious hearts of man. As hard as this may be to accept, the fact is, every time that you reject God, every time that you choose to ignore God, YOU ARE SIDING WITH SATAN AND ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THE EVIL THAT IS IN THIS WORLD!
Society has tried to down play the existence of evil in our world. The way our society tries to make every excuse in the book to call evil anything but what it truly is....EVIL! The point I want you to understand today is that every time that you rebel against God, every time that you choose to reject God and not follow His way, YOU are contributing to the evil that is in this world.
The good news is this. The Bible tells us that in the end, God will wipe our ALL evil from this world. It will no longer be part of this existence. But until this time, we have a responsibility as His children to not only fight against the evil that exists, but to not contribute to it through the choices that we make each day. God is greater than evil, and one day, very soon, He will wipe evil away!!!
And that will be a glorious day!
While I agree with your statement, I would differ, in that, EVIL exists apart from "the rebellious hearts of man".
As you said, Satan is the embodiment of evil. He is evil in it's purest form. Satan also has at his disposal one-third of the angelic host (now demons) that followed him in his insurrection against the throne of the Almighty.
The heart of man [a.k.a. his spirit] is either dead, empty and dark...a stone...and is wicked and rebellious against God until it is transformed by the Holy Spirit of God.
The heart of man [his spirit] is transformed from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Then the man becomes a new creation, created in Christ Jesus, all things become new and the old things passed away.
"To be blunt, those who follow God are good, those who choose to reject God are evil."
I would rather say that those who follow God by faith in the atoning scarifice of the Lord Jesus Christ are saved and have the Holy Spirit of God living in them. and those who choose to reject god are lost. Yes, their rejection and rebellion are evil, but they are more a destruction of themselves and to others. Those who are evil in the sense of the spirit of evil as their now chosen leader Satan, by his or his demon's influence carry out his mandate to "kill, steal and destroy".
But until this time, we have a responsibility as His children to not only fight against the evil that exists, but to not contribute to it through the choices that we make each day. God is greater than evil, and one day, very soon, He will wipe evil away!!!" Evil can be fought only to a point in the flesh with our choices in voting or our military might, etc. because the Apostle Paul states it's this way: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
And this is the way that Paul tells us how to properly fight evil by more than choices but THE GREATEST CHOICE:
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground,
and after you have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,
with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.