You’re a mixed bag. Some good, some bad. We all are. The good is cool but the bad is a problem. The bad is what separates us in our relationships, like when you yelled at your mom after school or reacted in anger to your children. It separates. In fact, sin separates. But you already knew that…
Does the good outweigh the bad? Like in the end when it all gets shaken down? Many people would subscribe to that concept, but how “good” is good enough? That sort of depends on the rules of the game.
We see God’s intent in the Garden of Eden (some people actually believe this happened). He created mankind in His image and placed them in paradise. The trouble is that He didn’t create a race of robots, they could choose to do right and wrong. Guess what they chose? We’ve been paying for that decision ever since. Now, I can say that’s unfair, but deep down I know that my choices affect my children and even their children. Did God set us up? No, He gave us an opportunity.
But you’re a good person, you might say! You haven’t murdered anyone, never bombed a bus full of nuns (am I even allowed to joke about that?), nothing atrocious like that… So you’re somewhere between Hitler and Mother Teresa? It’s sort of funny to think of comparing our good deeds to hers, and yet she would be the first to tell you that her good deeds couldn’t trump the bad. Why? Because sin separates. She believed that and died believing that!
We are connected, you and I. We share a sickness with the rest of the human race. I am fully convinced that until we embrace our broken condition, we will never be able to overcome it in long enough periods to effect any great change in a world that so desperately needs it.
I’m trying to convince you of something I think you already know, that you’re sick. And I’m sick. Full of potential, but sick. How do I know? I can’t even keep my own rules….
COREY KOPE 