The Friday Update--March 21

Good morning,

One of the questions that I often ask college students is this. ‘Why is the world the way it is?’ It is a place where wars, stealing and lying abound. Why hasn’t humanity been able to eradicate these with all of our ‘great learning?’  

The answer is found in the Bible in Genesis 3. Here sin entered God’s perfect creation, and never left. In fact, it has spread like cancer. In Genesis 4 there is the first murder where Adam’s son, Cain, slew his brother Abel. 

By Genesis 6 sin has become so widespread and wicked that God destroyed the world—except for Noah and his family. How sinful was God’s creation? The LORD tells us in Genesis 6:5.

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was very great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”

We must understand ‘the sinfulness of sin.’ It is a proactive force that seeks out human souls. The devil and his demons are real. But just as bad are the sinful sons of Adam. God tells us, “the intentions of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” 

The LORD gives greater detail on human sin when He confronts Abel with his murder of Cain. “The LORD said to Cain … sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Is sin really that bad?! Our culture so often wrestles with this. In fact the debate often heard is, ‘Are human beings good people that occasionally do bad things … or are ‘the sons of Adam’ bad people that occasionally do good things?’ 

How you answer this question reveals how you look at your own heart. It also uncovers how aggressive you are fighting sin. The mirror I would use to look into would be ‘The Ten Commandments.’

Looking at your reflection you will come to find, no human being has EVER kept all these God ordained laws. “Do not murder, do not steal, do not lie, do not commit adultery, do not covet …” God’s Commands reveal just how lost and sinful we are. 

BUT GOD … this is the message of the Lent. “But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ took the punishment for our sins so that by faith in Him we can become “born again.”

The bad news brings forth the truly good news. We can have a new mind and a new heart to know God. He will make us “new creations in Christ.” Yet still greater, we can have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us by faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  

May this Lent help you to have a better understanding of your sin … and of the Grace of God seen in a Crucified Christ. 

Steve  

Good morning,

The final words of a dying man are very important. They tell us if they “ran the race set before them with endurance”. It was said of many Puritans, ‘they died well.’ 

Peter’s dying words, as written in the Bible, were:

“Grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever more. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)

So, if we used these words as an evaluation of our lives in the past 12 months—how are you doing? Are you growing in the grace of Christ? Are you growing in the knowledge of our Savior?

For starters we must recognize that to grow we must put time and effort into the task. We will not grow by simply waiting for grace/knowledge to fall upon us. We must be proactive, doing certain things to enlarge our spiritual development.

Twenty years ago, I decided to run a marathon; all 26.2 miles of it. The obvious fact going into this race was that this would take many months of training. In the next 5-6 months I needed to get my body, and mind, in shape for this. 

Compared to running a marathon, there is far greater worth for us to “grow in grace and knowledge” of Jesus Christ. We can see this when we ponder who He is?  

He is the “Son of God” and “the Son of Man.” He is “Savior of the world” and “the King of kings.” He holds all knowledge and all power. He cannot sin and “dwells in unapproachable light.” 

We could fill hundreds and hundreds of pages declaring all that He said and did. The Apostle John tells us, “There are many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of the written down the world could not contain the books that would be written.”

Why should we seek to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ Jesus? Because He is the greatest Being ever to step foot on this planet … and He died … so that we might live forever with Him.  

Peter spent his ‘last breath’ telling us how important this is. If this seems dull and boring—maybe you don’t truly know Him!

Steve