Psalm 14
1 Only fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
not one of them does good!
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
on the entire human race;
he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,
if anyone seeks God.
3 But no, all have turned away;
all have become corrupt.
No one does good,
not a single one!
4 Will those who do evil never learn?
They eat up my people like bread
and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord.
5 Terror will grip them,
for God is with those who obey him.
6 The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed,
but the Lord will protect his people.
7 Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel?
When the Lord restores his people,
Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice.
A friend and I were debating the nature of man. As we discussed, we thought about the statement – ‘I don’t like people, I don’t trust them and I think they’d steal given the opportunity’. And I recalled when a wallet was left in front of Starbucks, next to a busy parking lot - we returned to find it perfectly intact and waiting for us. I remember the same Starbucks, several years later, calling saying a wallet had been left behind and it was intact. A dear one of mine, once spooked a woman making a deposit at the ATM machine. The woman felt afraid and, by accident, didn’t complete the transaction; instead leaving several hundred dollars in the open machine slot. The woman had to be followed to give her cash back! She was extremely happy - she'd heard too many stories about being alone at an ATM with a stranger and, gratefully, had her needed Christmas money for gifts.
All too often rudeness and unkindness is just busyness becoming self-centeredness. And sometimes it is just an ‘I’ve completely had it day’. And then we are victimized, like the commercial on TV, when the car is crashed into and no note is left, the feeling of bewilderment and betrayal. Deliberate cruelty is shocking and amazing.
Recently a young man told me about going to a party, where a young woman grabbed him by the crotch during a dance and yelled, “Right here and right now”. The shock & embarrassment of the man feeling ill, and on the spot, feeling not masculine & horrified. The crowd reacted with him, the front group was too shocked and too intimidated to speak up; someone from the back yelled, “Don’t do it, you’ll get a disease.” Feeling un-shocked enough to shake her off. The young man feeling ashamed, not masculine, months later, but coming to realize the incident was public sexual abuse. The incident generated a lot of compassion in the young man for abuse women face.
The motivation for the people who arranged Jesus' death was: power, fear, convenience, peace in the place of goodness, envy and hypocrisy. Some people in the crowd wanted Jesus to be crucified for entertainment and to test Him.
It's easier to sit and compare good and evil of man, but difficult realizing evil nature and quick silver change is in me. I will always need a compassionate savior. Jesus would agree with us the nature of man includes a large component of just plain corruption. But Jesus, like His Father, is unwilling to give us up to our nature; He was willing then, and today, to give all of us a chance.
Matthew 23:37-39 & Luke 13:34-35
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
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