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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Not
Surprised Nor Amazed I
often see some Christians totally dumfounded, surprised, and amazed over
the evil they see around them. Why
is government so ungodly? Why
are schools so liberal? Why
is the business world addicted to the all-mighty dollar?
Why do some priests sexually abuse little boys?
Why is there corruption in church?
Why do people hate, steal, kill, cheat, and lie?
On and on it goes. All
that and more neither surprises nor amazes me.
What does surprise and amaze me is how many Christians are so
surprised and amazed at the prevalence of sinful evil in the world
around them. Have they never
read Jeremiah 17:9? "The
heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand
it?" Jeremiah
17:9 states the fundamental Biblical position concerning the human
condition. We, including
Christians, are so inherently sinful that we are unable to recognize how
sinful we are. If this is
not your foundational concept of human nature, then all you believe
about the human condition is based on an unbiblical faulty premise.
In
case you think Jeremiah 17:9 is just an Old Testament concept, read Romans
7:24. After a self
examination, Paul, one of the most effective Christians ever, agreed
with Jeremiah. "What a wretched
man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to
death?" Despite
the fact that Paul understood himself to be a totally brand new creation
in Christ, as seen in 2 Corinthians 5:17, he still battled with his
sinful human nature that habitually tried to assassinate his new nature
in Christ.
No,
nothing about the human condition surprises nor amazes me.
We are all in the same sinking ship of sinfulness, and we will
be, until the day comes when Jesus sinks that ship in the sea of divine
judgment for good.
Until then, I am eternally thankful to Jesus that He has written
my name in the Lamb's Book of Life where there is no hint of my inherent
sinfulness associated with my name.
He has declared me to be without sin, just as He Himself is
without sin, and that despite of my ever-present sinful nature.
He views me as being totally righteous, just as He Himself is totally
righteous, and that despite the fact that I am far from righteous.
Now that is what amazes me. Does
it amaze you?
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