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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman The
Soul Is Sick As I look up at the moon that is so far away, I think how far humanity has come in the
advancement of science and technology.
What we once considered a god, we now know is a planet that we have
actually walked upon. Our
God-created intellectual capacities have brought us a long way from those
flat earth days. That being
said, there is more to a human being than intellectual capabilities. It's
our heart, our soul, that stimulates our intellect into action, and sad to
say, whether it's our individual soul or our collective cultural soul,
both are sick. It's what
Jeremiah 17:9 tells us. "The heart is
deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Now that I'm old, I
admit that my father was right all along when he would consistently tell
me that humanity is "just down right sick."
Jeremiah 17:9 confirms dad's thinking when it states that the human
condition is so sick that we have no clue how sick it is.
Furthermore, there is no human cure for this sickness, so any
attempt on our part to heal the heart is stricken down by what I would
call an "intrinsic sin syndrome."
Yes, our God-created intellectual abilities have provided much
needed advancements in all aspects of life for which I am thankful, but,
each advancement gets hijacked to one degree or another by our depravity.
It is for this reason that Jesus addressed the issues of our
depraved heart. Matthew 5:21
and 22 is one example. "You
have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder,
and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that
anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to
judgment." The
law said don't murder. Jesus
said don't get angry in your heart without due cause.
The law addressed external behaviour while Jesus addressed internal
behaviour. Law, a matter of
the mind, cannot heal a sick soul. If,
however, there was something that could penetrate the heart, that
something could change the behaviour of the heart, and thus, change the
behaviour of a life. Law,
legalities, education and technical advancements, and all matters of the
mind, are vitally beneficial. I'm
all in on that, but none of these things can heal a sick soul.
Only that which can actually enter the soul can heal the soul, and
that, I maintain is the Spirit of Jesus.
This
is important in today's world where we think that law, legislation,
education, and technology, can cure our individual and cultural
ills. Such things have
benefit, but life shows us that they have their limitations.
We pass laws concerning murder, but we still murder.
We legislate morality, but we're still immoral.
We educate don't drink and drive, but we still drive drunk.
We created software to protect our online existence, but we're still
hacked. My dad was right.
Jeremiah was right. The
soul is sick. There is no
human cure, but there is a divine cure.
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