You’ve heard people say, “I believe most people are essentially good.” Although the sentiment is sweet and hopeful, if it were a bucket, it could hold no water. It’s erroneous. I know, you think that’s me being negative and cynical. If you’re a Christian and think that, then you don’t know God or His word. Of course, you think that sounds judgemental, why wouldn’t you, it’s 2021 and only things that don’t offend are acceptable as free speech, or better yet, as truth. Well, God makes it clear in Mark 10:18, “And Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.” To say man is essentially good places him in a position he cannot occupy because it’s a lie. The fact is, humans are sinful creatures. When we’re guided by our carnal minds, our works are worldly, and at war against God. (see Romans 8; Romans 3; James 4:4;) One of the worst things we can do is say a thing is good to us, and therefore God must accept it. The prophet Isaiah minces no words in Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitutes darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
The first disobedience in the garden (Genesis 3) rushed sin into the world, and humanity into a lost state. The spiritual chasm caused by our sin separates us from God. Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Why would anyone that truly believes do what it takes to be separated from Him, whom we should fear? The passage in Romans 5:12 shows the true state of man and the evidence of his carnal heart. Man, in his arrogance, thinks he can save himself from the woes of the world and the wrath of God to come. “There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death, Proverbs 14:12.
If people are basically good-hearted, why the flood? Why did God destroy all but eight people? We find the answer in scripture. Genesis 6:5, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” There we have it because man’s heart opposes God.
Christian culture’s descent into the ways of the world is speeding up at a rate that boggles my mind. I’ve seen in a short time people I thought that would never take up the world’s arms and wield them at the Spirit of God, do so in a prideful manner. What happened to put on the FULL armor of God, Ephesians 6:10-17? Do some actually believe God will overlook His teachings and commandments? Do you think His grace extends beyond His will and will cover your purposeful sin? The blood of Christ covers the sins of the saved. Those that have obeyed the Gospel. They heard of Jesus’ purpose, repented, and continue to repent of the things God hates. Read the book of 1 John, it’s five brief chapters packed with why we should consider Christ first in all things. I’ll give you a hint, it tells of how we can make it off this earth alive.
Let us never forget our place in the universe. We’re specks of breathing dust with the ability to make choices. God desires our choice for how we live to be His precepts. Our obedience to His will leads to eternal life. He expects our love, and He alone defines love. He alone makes the rules for what love looks like and how it is to manifest in our lives. Jesus breaks it down succinctly in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Can it be any more clear than that? The only way to not understand Jesus’ statement is to never read the scripture.
However long it is, the time is drawing near until the return of our Lord Jesus. Will you have plenty of oil for your lamp, that you may enter the feast? Or will you be missing because of your lack of readiness? I pray you will be ready!
Being ready means we’ll love the things that God loves and hate the things He hates. We’ll do the things He loves and avoid, like the plague the things He hates. We can find all of those things in scripture. There’s nothing hidden or left to our own interpretation or imagination. 1 Peter 1:1-3, “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9.
God understands it and can heal it if you’re willing to do it on His terms. You must understand this, God is not a puppet, genie, wooden idol, ceramic statue, or any other earthly or mythical thing. He is GOD, and God alone, there is no other. God is the creator of everything you’ve ever known, and ever will. He’s Omnipotent; Omniscient; and Omnipresent; He knows all, He’s everywhere at all times, and He knows all. He is God and gave His only Son Jesus as a sin sacrifice for the sins of the world. Learn how you can be saved from this present evil age and from His wrath to come, only by obeying the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Click here to go to The Gospel Defined page and learn scripture for scripture, what the Gospel is, and how God shows us, we obey it.
Let this be of comfort to you. 1 Timothy 2:1-6, “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.”
Be a blessing to God, and be blessed
