Is there any
religion in the world that so completely recognizes the need of mankind more
than Christianity? If all that was
necessary for a good life was a better list of self-help suggestions or moral
platitudes, then we would be fit for any challenge before us. The world would be nobler and more reasonable
than at any time in history for there has never been a time that such a
proliferation of advice has been available.
Suicide should have long been eliminated along with drunkenness and
violence. Yet we are not better off than
before...perhaps not worse off but that is certainly debatable. It is a modern absurdity that religion can
help us without a radical transformation of our soul. Give any system of thought a societal landing
spot and it will do nothing to make the people there better. Cannibalism did not spring up in a vacuum; it
originated in a religious subsystem that could not redeem the people who lived
its tenets to its logical conclusion.
The treasured and time-honored practices of wife-burning, child
sacrifice, abandonment of elders and prostitution all sprang out of religious
cultural mores. We are ignorant of the
facts if we think we can make ourselves better people by getting something
taught more effectively. Religious
atheism brought us the wonders of genocide and death camps. The problem facing all mankind is the deadly
plague of sinfulness that permeates every level of each society on earth. One can read the Proverbs day and night,
meditate all one wants upon the Decalogue and nothing good will come of it but
a more subtle and pervasive sinfulness petrified by pride. We need a savior completely . The most common mistake we make is to assume
we can gain Christ and then figure out everything else . Your soul is not fixed by you in any way;
only Christ entering you through the Cross can make you actually
right...perfectly right. As more of you
becomes engaged with Jesus crucified, more of you becomes pure and holy. Say "no" to Jesus Christ even for
an instant and the wreckage of sin stiffens its neck and won't let you pass any
further. Your temper will stay, your
lust will stay, your despairing fretting will stay, your arrogant
self-righteousness will stay, your argumentative piety will stay, your cursing
heart will stay. The unbeliever
generally can care less if he changes a whit...He is too comfortable to move
off his twilight roosting. But the
Christian, who has tasted the sweetness of real holiness will never be able to
rest contentedly with his sin self still established. The only way to be done with it, and it will
be eliminated fully, is to give the crucified Savior His way in each part of
your doings, to make His life the life you live day in and day out. Let your body be the Holy of Holies for
Christ the King to rule...never say "no" to Him as He works out of
you habits sin has worked into you.
Never trust yourself but never doubt the power of God working through
you and in you.
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the
world. Galatians 6:14-15 NIV
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