The foundation of a building is extremely important! Yet it is the unseen part which tells us that what is seen is often not as important as what is unseen!
The root of a tree is more important than the tree. Because a root system can exist without a tree, but a tree cannot stand without a root system. Many trees, being cut down, will grow a new tree from the stump. But pull out the root system, and the tree cannot stand.
All these examples get down to the bare bones of a thing. To its origin. To the beginning.
In humanity, it is our nature. Why do we behave the way we do? It is because of our nature.
Why do pigs eat slop? Because they are pigs! Eating slop is not what makes them pigs but is the result of being one.
Humanity has a massive problem. It is their fundamental problem. It is the problem of sin.
Now, people are not sinful because they sin. It is deeper than that. People sin because they are sinful. The Bible says we are “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Also, “dead in our trespasses and sins, in which we once walked.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)
This is the foundational issue, the root of the issue, the heart of the problem. It is the problem of nature.
The world will not agree. No surprise there, because the world has been in opposition to God ever since this became our nature. (1 John 3:1, 13)
If they don’t agree, what are their propositions? What is our problem and how do we fix it? Why do people continually do bad things like murder in the extreme case, and something as simple as being lazy and not being willing to help your wife or your friend in their work or difficulty?
One answer is “it is biology.” The man who does terrible things, it is because he has some mental diagnosis that he has no control over, that causes him to do things. The solution then is medication. Why is it, that we have more medication now than ever before, and our mental illness has gone through the roof?
If medication solved the problem, why do the stats show only a worsening of the problem?
Another answer is environment. A person is angry because they are in an environment of angry people. It’s certainly true that angry people make us more angry but it’s circular reasoning. If you are angry, because they are angry, why are they angry? They might say, because you are angry. The problem isn’t solved, the root issue hasn’t been discerned yet.
Another answer is past trauma. I’m messed up because of bad things that have happened to me. Certainly, bad things happening to you will affect you deeply. But this can’t be the root of the problem, otherwise it would be universal, and there are many people who have lived through horrible trauma, and are happy, healthy, and whole today.
Corrie Ten Boom, who survived a Nazi concentration camp is an example. So is Louis Zamborini who survived the horrible conditions of a Japanese prison camp in the Second World War and went on to live a very fruitful life after.
Thinking about all these factors is like thinking about fixing your lights and brakes on your car, when your engine is blown. How foolish to focus on fixing those things, when you’re unwilling to fix the engine. What good will that do?
The bottom line is, humanity does evil because humanity is evil. And this offends, but better to tell a man dying with cancer that he’s going to die, to motivate him to get treatment, than to comfort him and say all is well, when you know if nothing changes, he’ll die soon.
Jesus was loved for the amazing miracles He did, but it was at this point He was hated most. He testified to the world its works were evil. (John 3:19) And that anyone who would not obey Him, God’s wrath abode on them.
Your greatest problem is your nature. You have a bent towards sin, like a fish has a bent towards water.
The only solution is, you must be born again. You can prop yourself up like a good person, who does good, but God knows your heart. He knows every hateful thought, every lustful thought, and He considers those things murder and adultery. Those searching eyes, you will not escape. A fish wanting to be a man can jump out of water, but it will not survive, because its nature is unchanged. You can try and reform your life, but what you need first is a change of nature.
And that happens when you’re born again!
This is a work God alone can do. That means, you are utterly dependent on Him.
And Paul, after saying we’re by nature children of wrath and dead in our trespasses and sins, goes on to say, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
There is the only hope of any person reading this!
Pastor Matthew Peters,
High Prairie Bethel Baptist Church.