There is a thought that has been evolving in my mind today, a thought that one of the essential problems of our christian mindset is that we concern ourselves too much with the capability of man to do evil, rather than the capability of God to do good. This is a broad, sweeping concept that covers legalism, social justice, politics, and other popular issues. In legalism, we focus all our energy on preventing ourselves and others from any possible avenue to sin. In social justice, we try to defend people against the sin of others, which is not wrong, but it doesn't fix their greatest need, only the consequences of it. In political issues, we freak out when there are laws that would allow people to sin and when we feel our religious liberties being taken away. And then there are our personal problems that are caused because of our obsession with the capability of man to do evil. We worry about people we love when we see them struggling with sin and we try to prevent them, until it begins to feel as though you are a prison warden making certain his prisoners don't break out. We spend thousands of dollars protecting our possessions from other sinners. We create rules for ourselves to prevent us from sinning and then feel as though we've sinned when we break those, those man-made creations that God never spoke in command. We keep our innermost struggles to ourselves because we're afraid of how other sinners might hurt us if they knew.
Let me be clear, none of these things are bad, essentially. Most of these start out as a result of God-given discernment. "Oh, I see that I stumble alot when this situation comes up. Maybe I should start avoiding it." Which develops into avoiding this thing which would help you to avoid that situation, to avoiding this person which would help you avoid this thing which would help you to avoid that situation, until you end up in your room with the door locked, blinds down, tied up and blindfolded (of your own doing) so that you won't get near that sin. This does not sound like the life of a follower of Christ as described in the new testament.
I don't want to make this too long, so I won't explain why I believe every single example I just gave is wrong (Though if you ask me, I will gladly explain why I have come to that conclusion), but I will explain something that will hopefully clear that up by itself. God's goodness is infinitely more powerful than the wickedness of man. Jesus Christ lived among sinners for 33 years. If, being omniscient, He didn't already know the depravity of humanity before He became a man (that "if" being theoretical, of course), He certainly saw it during His lifetime on earth, and how much more, being perfect? He didn't try to prevent them from sinning. Sin is a choice and God is a God of free will. If He took away that choice, there would be no need for Jesus Christ. But I digress (slightly). Jesus died the death of a criminal, placing on His soul the shame and condemnation of all the sin of the entire human race, and being separated from His Father (the only Being Who truly understood Him and loved Him) for the only time in eternity, so that your life would be liberated from Satan and you would know the full joy of being in love with a perfect Person Who loves you more than any other entity could ever try and Who could make you like Himself. He gave you His Spirit to discern, convict, comfort (which means "to strengthen with intensity" by the way), counsel, and interceed on our behalf. We have the fruits of the Spirit, among which are love and self-control, which should cause us to stop freaking out about the possibility that we MIGHT sin if we step outside our front door and instead ask Jesus to help us learn to rely on His omnipotence rather than our own pathetic strength. It should also cause us to entrust other believing sinners to Him, having faith that He is producing those same fruits in them and we need not (and ought not) protect ourselves from them. We need to also claim His promises, that all things WILL work together for good to those who love Him, no matter what happens in this country, or in the world. The question isn't if things will work out, but 1) is your idea of "working together for good" of your own making, or of His? and 2) do you love Him?
"Without faith, it is impossible to please God." Where is your faith? How will you step out in faith, outside of your walls of protection/bondage? Do you ever wonder why you don't have your own miraculous stories of God's work to tell? For me personally, I know it is because I do not lay myself bare before Him and wait for Him to build His own walls and armies to fight for me. I fight my own battles, with my childish cardboard weaponry, while He simply watches until I ask Him to take over. I asked once, when I accepted Him as my Savior and Lord. When I understood the freedom and power in the cross. and it changed my life.
Come back to the cross with me.
