**My prayer is that my heart will be plainly seen through this expression of what’s been on my mind. I pray it clearly comes across how it was intended. Hope I’ve treaded lightly on this extremely serious topic.**
Most of us are aware of the “Vandy Rape trial” that has been plastered virtually everywhere in the news medium. (If you haven’t, Google it. It is 2015, after all, and that’s a perk of being around now.) Neither the incident nor the facts that surround it are important. God just used this case to convict me of some things.
Two of the involved football players were found guilty on all charges. In the last few nights, a video was leaked showing some footage of the unconscious victim being transported to the apparent crime scene. As I imagined many people’s reaction, it became evident what most people would say (including me):
“How could anyone do something like that?”
“What type of person would treat another person like that?” etc, etc.
Both timely questions, but somehow missing the satisfaction of an appropriate answer. If there is anything I know well, it is that sin is a problem (and we all have it). I know all too well that I am sinful. The sin that allowed those men to do that crime, I have that same sin seed in me. And because of that, I can not say that I could not possibly have done the same thing. (Allow that to sink in. This is the crux of this post.) Why?? Because we all have ingrained in us, naturally and by default, a sin problem. That same disgusting, selfish, deplorable, wicked, sin problem is more than alive and living in me (us).
I can think back to times when I have been my most deceitful. When I have been my most conniving. When I have been my most rude. When I have lead/participated in the picking on of someone “weaker”, “smaller”, or “less talented” than myself. (And those are just a few of my committed sins. That’s not counting my sins of omission.) We are nowhere near as blameless as we would like to admit.
As I stop and reflect on these moments, I think, “How could I ever have done that? Why would I ever have done that?” (Sound familiar?) It’s in these moments that I am reminded (not because I’ve forgotten but I like to overlook) that sin is rampant within me. Therefore I could easily be that person who did _______.
Here are two helpful quotes on sin:
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer
than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
“Not only does sin have consequences, but also each time we sin, we reinforce a pattern that becomes harder and harder to break. If we persist in sin with the thought that one day we will get right with God, we should remind ourselves that God may still be there to forgive and restore but we may not be.”
My prayer is that I (we) don’t come across as pharisaical and “holier-than-thou.” But that, instead, I can continue to need Christ every day. Not only to save me but to keep saving me from myself and the sin nature that is in me. This begins by admittance that I am more sinful than I have ever confessed. Because of sin, I am more than convinced that I am capable. . that I have the capacity. . that I have the evil, selfishness, and ungodliness needed to do an equivalently atrocious act.
So honestly, I’m much more like these culprits than I care to admit. Much more like them than I am comfortable disclosing. Much more evil than anyone ever sees.
But so often we do see evil. One way is via news outlets. I often wonder what the point of the news is. Does it serve a purpose of good? Is it to inform us so we will know what’s going on?
The majority of the time I don’t think much good comes from it. I think it’s there to scare us. More than anything, the news seems to create fear. But maybe there could be another purpose. As I watched the news last night it made me hate sin. If that is its purpose (and we see it as such) then it is doing a great job.
So to answer the above questions of
“How could anyone do something like that?”
“What type of person would treat another person like that?”
I say a sin-filled person. Because when it comes to sin either you got it or you got it (and trust me, you’ve got it). Based on this truth we are capable of much more sin than we realized. Glory be to God that Christ has come to save us from our default state of sin. Through Him we are able to not only fight, but defeat sin.
-jd
Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves {Romans 12:3b}
Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone. {John 8:7}
jpdansby 