Where We Come From

 I simply turned on the tv to watch a bit of the Olympics and, instead of ski jumping, curling, and the like, I see images of people running out of a high school in Florida - headlines of horrific tragedy blazing across the screen. A prayer of utter helplessness escapes my lips: "Oh God, help!" Indeed, help us in our helplessness, for we can be cruel. Our brokenness drives deeper than we often care to admit. 

 The realization of yet another shooting - of more lives shattered, hearts crushed, families torn apart by the cold-heartedness of another - hit me, and I began to ask myself: how do we process these tragedies? What solution is there to such magnitude of suffering and pain? While the politicians debate legal intervention on how to stop these from happening, while the psychologists and mental health experts discuss medical and emotional involvement and prevention...I leave all these avenues for now and focus simply on the root cause of it all: sin. 

 In this day and age when people don't like to mention the word sin - when people call life's mis-steps anything but sin (mistakes, regrets, wrong choices, etc) we are failing to get real about what's really wrong with ourselves. And perhaps this is what drives either to the foot of the cross or away from it: the simple face that our first father Adam ruined the human race by his disobedience and that a fallen world with broken people living in it is the sad effect of his lingering corruption. Some people even deny Adam's existence to which I add here, if you deny the existence of God, then you deny the existence of His creation (which included Adam). And, if you deny the existence of God's perfection in the created order, then you deny the fact that sin ruined that perfection. And thus, you deny that there is a need for a Savior to redeem that ruin. If you do not see that the human race is, at its essence, sinful, then you think you can control how it behaves by modifying behavior and simply reminding people of their supposed inherent goodness and that they are simply mis-guided. That's all. 

 There are still others who accept that this world is a broken place but they do not know how to understand the magnitude of that brokenness. When things like school shootings happen, we are quick to point out the cruelty, the utter horribleness of the situation and we say, "how could they...??" but we can't find it in ourselves to comprehend what has taken place. We can't imagine how somebody could be so mean-spirited, so far "gone" as to arrive at a place of such hatred and anger. Part of me felt this way yesterday as I watched the news coming out of the Miami area. What could possibly motivate people to do such awful things as this?! One word: sin. 

 When I look at the Scriptures, I see a picture of what one ought to be - the image-bearer of their Savior, loving, kind, caring, sensitive, selfless, serving, etc...and then I see what one is at their core being - the opposite in every way of Jesus: imperfect, hateful, unkind, uncaring, unloving, selfish, greedy, etc. I realize that there is no way that, apart from Christ, anybody can become who they're truly meant to be. Laws can be written, mental health experts and medicine can be called upon, but if the heart is still set against God and His ways, the sick condition of the soul still exists. It still stands in need of the cure of the Great Physician Himself! 

 I look at my own life and I realize - Adam's sin is where we ALL come from. And I am as much as inner (in my natural state) as the young man who walked into that school yesterday and shot all of those innocent people. It strikes me as I contemplate the story Jesus told of the prodigal son that both sons in the story were wrong - one son just acted it out while the other kept his rebellion to himself. Both stood in need of forgiveness and grace. Both needed redemption in their hearts. Both needed the Father's love. He offered it to each of them and one eventually responded after his life fell apart, while the other one resisted...and we never know if he ever came around or not. Whether we act out our sin (as Romans 1 so aptly describes) or not, we all still stand as equals before a holy God. We are no better or worse than one another. And the Savior's grace is the only difference that changes where we end up. Because our beginnings are the same: born into Adam's corruption. The love of God is what changes the ending.

 I call to mind the words of John Newton when he wrote to a friend:

"While we lament the growth and pernicious effects of infidelity,

and see how wicked men and seducers wax worse and worse, deceiving,

and being deceived; what gratitude should fill our hearts to Him, who has

been pleased to call us out of the horrid darkness in which multitudes

are bewildered and lost, into the glorious light of the Gospel!"

 I flipped the channel on the tv and more Olympic coverage popped up: stories of hope, goodness, and  triumph spirit. It was a contrast to the horror unfolding on the other networks. The sinfulness still remains in all of us, no matter how accomplished and "good" we may be. Times like these remind us of that. We all have our faults. We all have our broken places. And, were we to each bow the knee to the lordship of Jesus Christ as we ought, these things would never happen. But they will sadly continue to do so until the ultimate judgement day of the Lord when all actions will be laid open for all to see and God will determine each one's final destiny. I await that day and earnestly pray for God's mercy on my own soul in that time, that His words may be that I did well, even in my fallen state of being. 

 When such tragedies as these hit us, I am filled with the deepest grief. But I also plead for some redemption to occur through it all. Because grace always wins. God always brings good out of the seeming ruins and evil. Nothing happens without His notice. I trust in this fact when the worst seems to have free reign. And I also remind myself of where I come from - that I have violence inside me too and that the only thing that keeps me from destroying myself and others is the grace of God. Unless He saves us ALL from ourselves. we too are bound for the worst end.