Realize what is Wrong ...

Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013. When people know their car very well, they can identify problems just from tiny changes in its sound. It is interesting: others do hear nothing and they might think that everything is ok. But those who know the sound very well realize, that this is not normal and they start to search for the cause of the problem.

Biblical view into our Life …

It is similar with our life as a whole. We might think: our life looks fairly ok. But there is someone who knows better. The Lord knows us in a way we can barely grasp. And he knows everything which is not as it should be.

In his letter to the church in Rome the apostle Paul writes about justice. He writes about everything wich does not work in our life. He writes about God's solutions to this fundamental problem of mankind. Let us read a little into these passages:

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off?2 No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3, 9-20) No one is Righteous … **

It is one of the key features of a Christian, that he or she is able to admit that this is true. Christian people start to see what God sees: that our life is not righteous before him. We are able to see what “sin” means.

The origin of sin is the original meaning of the work: “separation”. We have been separated from the Lord, and since then, all different kinds of attitudes and actions have grown which separate us further from him. A “sin” is such an action, which separates us further from the Lord. Here it is just stated that everyone has been separated from the Lord and that his life reflects this state of living.

When we talk about being able to be self-critical, then we also need to talk about the biblical passages which talk about sin and about salvation. Salvation means to overcome the separation. Salvation means to start believing. Salvation means to start to act in the presence of the Lord, with the big rift healed. The bible leads us deep into our own soul, into our mind and our life - yesterday, today and tomorrow! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts