Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354—430, sometimes referred to as Saint Augustine) and some friends went into a neighbour's property and stole pears from the neighbour's pear trees. Augustine did not even eat the pears, but dumped them out elsewhere. Augustine confesses that he merely took the pears simply for the sake of doing evil. In other words, he did evil just to do evil. This is how evil works. As human beings, we do something bad simply because we want to enjoy the bad thing. After doing it, we find that doing evil does not truly make us happy. Yet we continue to choose to do evil simply for the fact of doing evil. That is how sin works, and that is why sin is so evil. We do evil because we enjoy it. Only grace can change us from bad people to good people, from sinful people to forgiven people. Only grace can reverse our course so that we can pursue what is good, right, and perfect. This is why we need Jesus. This is why we need salvation. Because apart from it, every evil act we commit is a transgression against a thrice holy God. Since we are made in His image, every time we sin we are telling the universe, "This is what God is like." Our sin is against an infinitely holy God, and therefore an infinite punishment is not only fair, but worthy.
