Tuesday, December 11, 2012

People always amaze me, I guess it is that hope springs eternal......

I was on the speech, drama and debate team when I was in high school.  I lettered in it.  We were the first year that got to participate in it as something you could letter in.  The jocks thought the lesser of our letters, I think, but we worked just as hard to earn them if only in a different manner.  The government teacher got on board with the new "sport", he was also the basketball coach. so maybe he was handing us a bone.  He decided to have a debate in government.  I don't recall the topic of the debate but he did teach us a valuable lesson.  He put forth the argument that "people were basically good"  both teams made the mistake of accepting that as a given.  We learned in a hurry that you should never give up an point or counterpoint in a debate.  Why did the statement that people are basically good sand bag us so?  Well maybe it is that human nature does not necessarily make anyone basically good.

We always apply innocence to a child, that may be as much a mistake as applying "goodness" to people.  I am amazed at how many new mothers with a toddler toddling around the house being appalled that someone taught her child to lie, or hit people or steal.  Sound familiar?  Well, honestly think about it.  Ask a toddler that knows it is not to play with the phone or the remote if they have it and they will tell you, if they have words, "no they don't know where it is" even if they have it in their cute little hand that is behind their back.  Did they hit the dog, their playmate or their sibling?  NO, they didn't do that.  Did they take the toy from the baby?  Did they pull the babies hair?  Did they throw the dogs food all over the kitchen?  NO they most definitely did not do any of those things.  Really?  How many times does a young mom say " my sweet baby was playing with so and so kids so that must be where they learned to lie, steal or be mean".  Really Sweet Baby didn't come up with it on their own because that is human nature?  It is self preservation to protect yourself and you don't think that it is in born in your child?  I think we all believe in survival of the fittest.  Isn't self preservation the basic building block of survival of the fittest.  Isn't lying the first thing a child learns that we are to teach them not to do?  Oh, it isn't really lying you say?  Well let me tell that to my tween they will be relieved that it is acceptable to lie about those little things.  No, lying is lying whether it is a toddler, a teen or a middle age man in "mid life crisis'.  It is a black and white kind of thing you know, you can't have it both ways.  Babies come into this world with all the skill of knowing how to lie, steal, cuss, and abuse.  It is called sin, and it was given to us by Adam, if you don't believe it spend some time with a toddler and "tell yourself my baby didn't do that on her own, surely someone taught her that"  no, she came that way from birth.

I know that we aren't "basically good" and we did come with original sin at birth, so we come into this world with the will to sin.  This is where good parenting comes in.  We can never stop our child from the nature of being human, we can only teach them to be the best they can be.  We can teach them what is wrong, why it is wrong, and help them to chose to be a better person.  We can guide them to choosing to be good person.  We can help them to chose salvation in their lives.  We are meant to guide them to the Lord so they can chose to over come their human nature and try to live as God would have them to live.  As adults we all make our own choices.  Choice is in all of our hands and like the lies of a toddler some one else didn't  teach us to make the wrong choices it is something as adults we own and decide for ourselves.  So to all those helicopter moms you can't make the choices for your child, you can't add your child to God's family as his grandchild.  He doesn't have any you. You can want for your child but you can't make his choices for him. We all only can chose God for ourselves or walk away from God. Are most important choice in this life is ours and only ours to make.

Sadly the world is full of people who chose to live an ungodly life, a life where they stalk others, murder others, or are set on self destruction.  There are so many bad choices a person can make in this life, the possibilities are endless and everyday somewhere a human being chooses for themselves the path to their destruction.  They choose to turn their backs on God, some never knowing it is not a done deal until they die.  There is nothing in their lives that can't be forgiven by God.  How many times to you hear, "I have done horrible things, God wouldn't want me"  Yes, he does, there is only one thing God will not forgive, that is your non belief.  God can not forgive your not believing in him, if you never believe you are lost, there is no getting around it.  How many times to you hear "he was a good person, he will go to heaven"  NO, he will not, if you do not believe in God you will not go to heaven, you can't good yourself in to heaven.  Only belief in God can get you there, his grace only gets you there, you can not under any circumstances earn it. Being good or a bad person is irrelevant to God, believing in him and repenting your sins is the only way to have life everlasting.  Believing in God usually inspires a person to want to do good, to follow his word and live a life as he asks us to but salvation is never earned it is a gift from God. 

Living this life is hard, daily we deal with the evil that the devil sends to us, and God allows the devil to test us in this life.  Sometimes the best things that can happen to you are the evils the devil sends our way.  People that are going along and everything is going their way seldom feel the need for God.  People who are persecuted look out and seek solace, they quite often come to God because of the hardships, the tribulations and troubles in their lives.  The devil doesn't give up even if you are one of Gods saved, he continues to try to tear you down but you have God as your champion who helps you when you need it.  The devil is not above destroying people in his campaign to destroy your life.  The devil like God has his followers and those people steadily pick at your life, but they are but naught if you just believe in God.  These people, that the devil uses, still have hope if they can just step out of the devils shadow and ask God's forgiveness.  When you are hounded by one of the devils evil ones remember there stands someone in need of your care, there stands one of the lost that have no clue who God is.  Your reaction to their evil can bring a spark of light, your reaction to them can be God's one chance of them hearing his voice, through your reaction he can be the saving of their eternal life.  So when someone treats you evil, stalks you, steals from you, makes your life miserable there is someone in need of God, can you be God's voice?  Can you over come your nature of self preservation and be the spark of light for God that they might need?  Isn't that what we are called to do?  "I shall walk through the valley of the shadow of death and I fear no evil"  Those evil doers in your life have no bearing on your life with God.  So maybe just maybe you can be of some good in theirs, maybe they persecute you as God's way to their salvation, maybe you are called by God to be of good in theirs........ tomorrow.

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