The other night I went to my daughter's school play where I watched her perform in an retelling of an actual event that occurred in the year 1998. The story told of a murder of a young man, the town's response, and the nation's fascination with the events surrounding that case as the plot unfolded. The young man in this story was different from his peers and because of his uniqueness he was targeted, tied to a fence, brutally beaten, and left to die, alone and isolated. As I watched with tears in my eyes, I was forced to mentally come to terms with what I was seeing and ask myself "What kind of world was I really living in?" Like the townspeople in this story, denial was my first response. My go-to place. But the unrest in my spirit continued I began to think back to the headlines of the news stories of the past two weeks. "MOTHER KILLS HER TWO CHILDREN; FAILS AT SUICIDE ATTEMPT', "PRIEST RAPES ALTER BOY" and "KENYA MALL ATTACKED BY GUNMEN" the headlines are endless and are a cruel reflection of the reality of the world in which I live. The local news and world news is filled with, murder, rape, and stories of wars. Brother fighting against brother, child killing parent, adults preying on children, and countries fighting against countries. Some of the stories I have read have been so twisted that I have had to ask myself what is going on? It seems like what once was considered right is now wrong, and what was once considered wrong is now right. Our moral parameters have shifted.We are living in a world of degradation, fallen so far, filled with rage, hate and darkness. Everywhere we turn it seems like all we see is violence. Not only does it dominate the news but the theme of violence and death can be found in our recreational television shows, cartoons, and in our movies. What has happened to the wonderful world of life that God created?
The first murder recorded in the Bible is found in the book of Genesis chapter four, a brother kills his brother, just a few chapters after the beginning of the book. Is this how God created man? Let's go to the beginning of the story and see what has occurred. In chapter one we see the creation story in all of it's splendor, glory, hope, and life ; the heavens, the earth, and man. It is perfect and God is pleased. Chapter two tells us that God gave man dominion over his creation to subdue it, be fruitful and multiply. God was connected with man, we see his presence nurturing, providing and teaching his creation. Chapter three gives us the account of man's rebellion and willful disobedience against God. Man was given a choice, he decided that he knew and understood matters better than God his creator and this is the point where things changed. Man swapped the right way of thinking and doing things for the wrong way. Sin and darkness entered his character and this world. This single act of man's defiance caused a separation between himself and God. It is like someone saying to you "Just leave me alone!, I hate you!, I don't need you!, I can do it myself!" So you leave, heart broken, you know the path of severance and isolation they have chosen to travel will only lead to defeat, despair, and ultimate destruction. God gave man the freedom of choice and now many, many generations later we see how that choice has served us. The undeniable evidences is manifest through the wickedness of our minds, hardness of our hearts, and cruelty in our actions. Thus reflected in the pitiful condition of our world. Humanity has try to eliminate Father God from their existence.
You may ask "How do we fix this?" I am sorry to say, we can't fix it. We cannot undo what has already been done. We do not have the power or the ability to reverse the consequences of our sinful nature. However, I am happy to say our hope is found in God and in his persistent, unshakable love he has for us his creations. Through God's unfathomable love he provided a means by which our relationship to him can be restored. He offers us himself. Imagine that "the entity" that we rejection reaches out to us. The God of creation humbled himself by taking on human form and becoming "like" his creation, so that we could identify and relate to him. God in the flesh lived among us, he loved on us, healed us, fed us, taught us his ways, showed us he is life. He gives us hope. This God-man, named Jesus Christ lived his earthly life without sin, in perfect harmony with the Spirit and will of God. His example of love and life was flawless. Still humanity rejects him, the echo of man's rebellious voice is heard again: "Leave us alone!, We hate you!, We don't need you! We can do it ourselves! Man exercised his freedom of choice once again and killed God the man. Hangs him on a cross.
Jesus Christ could have stopped it, after all he is God, but he didn't. He shed his blood to wash away our sins, he willing gave us his life so that we once again could be in right relationship with God the Father, our creator. He took all of our degradation, hate, rage, darkness and sin on himself. He sufferer God's judgement and wrath on our behalf. He took wrong and made it right. You may ask yourself why would he do this? The answer is simple, it is because God loves us, he always has and he always will.
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
You may ask "How do we fix this?" I am sorry to say, we can't fix it. We cannot undo what has already been done. We do not have the power or the ability to reverse the consequences of our sinful nature. However, I am happy to say our hope is found in God and in his persistent, unshakable love he has for us his creations. Through God's unfathomable love he provided a means by which our relationship to him can be restored. He offers us himself. Imagine that "the entity" that we rejection reaches out to us. The God of creation humbled himself by taking on human form and becoming "like" his creation, so that we could identify and relate to him. God in the flesh lived among us, he loved on us, healed us, fed us, taught us his ways, showed us he is life. He gives us hope. This God-man, named Jesus Christ lived his earthly life without sin, in perfect harmony with the Spirit and will of God. His example of love and life was flawless. Still humanity rejects him, the echo of man's rebellious voice is heard again: "Leave us alone!, We hate you!, We don't need you! We can do it ourselves! Man exercised his freedom of choice once again and killed God the man. Hangs him on a cross.
Jesus Christ could have stopped it, after all he is God, but he didn't. He shed his blood to wash away our sins, he willing gave us his life so that we once again could be in right relationship with God the Father, our creator. He took all of our degradation, hate, rage, darkness and sin on himself. He sufferer God's judgement and wrath on our behalf. He took wrong and made it right. You may ask yourself why would he do this? The answer is simple, it is because God loves us, he always has and he always will.
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools Romans 1:21-22(NIV)
