 We live in a world where people are trying to live for themselves. Nations
are trying to gain power and might so they can protect themselves from
stronger, sovereign nations or lesser organized terrorist groups.
Individuals, like nations or terrorist groups, are constantly striving to
stay on the top of the heap of humanity. Narcissistic actions, selfishness
and self-centeredness runs rampant in our society. Even though we see
ourselves as modern and sophisticated with knowledge ever-expanding with new
ideas, technologies, inventions and results from endless research and
development, we remain in the human predicament of wallowing in sin. "1:24
Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to
dishonor their bodies among themselves." (Romans 1:24)
In ways not too unlike the sins of our first parents, Adam and Eve, their
progeny to this day delights in changing the Truth of God into a lie. They
have taken the very existence of God out of their knowledge and relegated
Him to a place of dishonor and isolation. They have excused themselves from
His creation and claimed their existence as part of the animal world. So
with their constant diminution of God from their daily lives, "1:26 ...God
gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the
natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 1:27 and likewise the men also
abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions
for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in
themselves the due penalty for their error." (Romans 1:26-27)
From their position of fallen nature sin currently abounds. The "sin-nature"
prevails in the lives of individuals, people groups and nations throughout
the world. They have taken the influence of God from their governments,
educational systems, legal systems and sometimes even from their worship
practices. They have destroyed the absolute of God and handed it over to the
relativity of the moment. Morality and justice have become the slave of
situational ethical considerations with the Truth of God subservient to the
invention of truth by man's power and law.
"1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them
over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 1:29 They are filled
with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They
are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,
1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of
all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless,
covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know God’s
righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they
not only do them but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans
1:28-32)
The Apostle Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, gave us the indelible Truth
through God's Holy Spirit that, "...3:23 for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) The consequences of having fallen short
of God's glory has a price: "6:23 For the payoff of sin is death..." (Romans
6:23) When we continue to live in sin we are separated from God because of
that sin. If we continue to live in that state of separation from God, we
are ultimately cut off from Him and will experience an eternal separation
from Him. The promise He gives is one that ensures we do not have to stay
separated from Him. He provides the gift of being saved from our sin; that
gift is, "...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 6:23)
People do not need proof that mankind has degenerated and continues to do
so. Not only do the news media confirm it, but network and cable news decry
the worst of humanity each and every day. If we want further proof it is as
near as any individual around us where we work, play and live; and most
importantly, we can find the most compelling proof by simply looking in the
nearest mirror. Each individual knows him/herself better than anyone else,
and our own credibility to ourselves expose our faults and sins even when we
are trying to minimize them. Most assuredly, the Apostle Paul is correct:
"All" have sinned; and sin brings death.
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 Of course there is an escape. In poetic song
the Apostle Paul gives us a glimpse of The Christ Who saves us from
our sin. Jesus Christ, "2:6 who though he existed in the form of God
did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, 2:7 but
emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like
other men, and by sharing in human nature. 2:8 He humbled himself,
by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross!
2:9 As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above
every name, 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow –
in heaven and on earth and under the earth – 2:11 and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."
(Philippians 2:6-11)
In what has been described as the most well-known verse in the Bible
we read of God's great love for us: "3:16 For this is the way God
loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
"15:3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also
received – that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures, 15:4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on
the third day according to the scriptures, 15:5 and that he appeared
to Cephas, then to the twelve. 15:6 Then he appeared to more than
five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom
are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 15:7 Then he
appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 15:8 Last of all, as
though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also." (1
Corinthians 15:3-8)
It is certain that God has provided the sacrifice of Jesus, His Son,
as a blood sacrifice that satisfied the requirement for God's
forgiveness of sins. As we accept Him and yield to Him He empowers
us with His Holy Spirit and forgives us our sins. We live with Him
for eternity in His presence. That is the Gospel: Christ died for
our sins; He was buried and then raised from the dead. He ascended
to heaven and will one day return in power and glory. It is up to us
individually to yield to His calling. We have a promise when we do.
"8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. 8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ
Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 8:3 For God
achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through
the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 8:4 so that the
righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not
walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans
8:1-4)
What about People around us?
I wonder when we enable people to begin and continue to believe in
life positions that move to lifestyles that places them in a
position directly opposed to God's will, if we don't in some measure
share in their sin? I wonder, as a Christian, how we can live with
ourselves knowing that a person who continues to live in sin, doing
it willingly by choice, and we protect that person to do so by our
own actions of not wanting to speak against that sin, if we are
doing it only for ourselves? Do we avoid calling sin a sin by
conjuring up "politically correct" language, thereby protecting
ourselves from the "hurt" that confrontation brings along with the
wrath of the person who fights to retain that sin we have enabled
for so long?
If refraining from confronting our friend with their sin simply to
save ourselves from the uncomfortable feeling that befalls us, we
have done a great disservice to the individual. How can we measure a
moment of our own pain against the eternity of pain that person will
suffer being separated from God? If that person is a friend or loved
one we must try everything we can to present the Gospel of Jesus as
often as we can so as to give that person the opportunity to ask for
forgiveness and invite Jesus into their life. How could we do less?
"5:19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the
truth and someone turns him back, 5:20 he should know that the one
who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that
person’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." (James
5:19-20)
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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