Click for more information

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 

Two things in life really surprise me, (1. How evil people can be and (2. How good people can be. The string of school shootings leave me shaking my head and asking "What has our society come to? Perhaps you are as outraged, shocked and dumbfounded as I am. These shootings certainly are windows that show the evil bent in people. But on the other hand, I'm often amazed at how good people can be.

This past week, many of our faithful workers helped in Vacation Bible School and Backyard Bible Clubs. For some, it was a mild inconvenience; for others, it was a major sacrifice. One of our leaders was in severe pain, but did her ministry anyway. Others pushed their days beyond 15 hours to commute to work, work and then teach a class. A couple of people even used vacation time or took time off from work to help. Amazing!

In a month, around 30 of us will board the church vans to drive to Lake Village, Arkansas to remodel a church that was started by a slave and teach some underprivileged children about Christ. To go, one family is working overtime now to be able to pay their own way then. Another person turned down an all expense paid trip to Ireland so he can pay his own way to go to Arkansas. Another family canceled their vacation plans to go to Kentucky to relax so they could go to Arkansas and work. One merchant is having a half-priced sale, turning their inventory into cash so they can go on the mission trip. Others that cannot go are freely donating money to help offset expenses for those that are going. Why would they make these sacrifices? Their goodness amazes me.

Why the difference? Why are some people so evil and others so good?

Instead of facing the distinct difference, some people try to explain away man's bent toward evil. "Blame shifting" is a popular way of explaining evil behavior. With the school shootings, we've heard its not the boys' fault, it is the NRA's, the motion picture industry's, video game manufacturers', the parents' or the school's fault, but few mention that the boys who did the shooting are to blame.

As a mere footnote to the Columbine massacre, T. J. Solomon took a .22 rifle to Heritage High School in Conyers, GA and shot six classmates. A TIME magazine article about the shooting begins by saying "Thomas Solomon Jr. is no monster." Deeper into the article the writers comment, "We'd like to believe that no boys are truly evil, and if Eric Harris [a shooter at Columbine] tested that proposition at Littleton exactly a month before Conyers, T.J. did not."

One of the victims of the shooting, Stephanie Laster, talked with some friends after the surgeons repaired the damage a bullet did to her intestines. They all felt "awful" for T.J. (TIME May 31, 1999, vol 153, No 21)

• •Linguistic gymnastics can't change the facts.

The fall came when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Genesis 3:6 NASB When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 

We are sinners both by nature and by choice. In other words, we were born into sin, but each of us have sinned in our own right. Satan tempts and we sin. James 1:14 NASB But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 

A-L-L! The scripture teaches that all have sinned. Romans 3:23 KJV For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:10-12 NASB as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; [11] There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; [12] All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one."

• •We have fallen, and we can't get up!

We are TOTALLY DEPRAVED. Romans 7:18 NASB For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. We are not good people that do bad things-we are bad through and through.

No doubt you have occasionally seen an apple with a wormhole in it. But did you ever wonder whether the worm began to bore from the inside or from the outside? Well, scientists tell us it began on the inside! They say that the egg is laid in the blossom, and that after the wiggly, undesirable little creature hatches in the core, it eats its way to the skin. The worm of sin operates the same way-from the inside out! (Copied)

Our Depravity so enslaves us that we cannot choose good. Romans 8:7 NASB because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; 

When the Bastille, a castle-like prison in Paris, was about to be destroyed in 1789, a convict was brought out who had been confined in one of its gloomy cells for many years. But instead of joyfully welcoming his liberty, he begged to be taken back. It had been so long since he had seen the sunshine that his eyes could not endure its brightness. His only desire was to die in the murky dungeon where he had been a captive. In the same way, our depravity causes us to reject the Savior until we eventually become so hardened in our sin that we prefer the dark ways of eternal death. (Copied)

If we cannot choose good, how then can we explain the actions of good people.

• •But God!

Ephes. 2:4-5 NASB But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 

God intervenes! We did not first choose God; He choose us! James 1:18 NASB In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures. By exercising our free will, we choose evil and rejected God. By exercising His will, God chooses us and defeats the evil nature in our hearts.

John 3:3 NASBJesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." We can only experience God's goodness in our life when we are born again. Birth is never the choice of the child, it is always the choice of the parent. 

Do you sense God calling you? Will you respond to his call today and allow Him to transform you into what He wants you to be?

Are you a Christian that is fighting against His control and will for your life? Are you ready today to resubmit yourself to His lordship?