Good Tuesday morning! Hot afternoons, chilly mornings, yep, September is here. Football season is well underway and the Broncos have already lost their first game. Nebraska has been thumping non-football schools to get ready for the real games, but our local Sidney team has been treated like a non-football school by its opponents. Yes, it may not be official on the calendar, but autumn is here. All we lack is that first morning when many yards are covered in ice from the sprinklers freezing in the crisp autumn air.
"And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil." John 3:19
When Jesus told every man to count the cost of following him, do you suppose he was being just a bit sarcastic? Perhaps not, but we see this cost accounting all the time. We tell someone the Good News, but he or she does not want to give up going to this place or that gathering. An alcoholic says that she likes drinking and can quit anytime she wants to; a sexual addict will quit tomorrow, but he never does, and of course, the always sad and amusing, "I just want to be free to choose!" Those who love the darkness are not free, but in fact are enslaved to sin. We only know this from the fact that Jesus set us free by our repentance and the laying down of his life for us. Everything seems upside down: The darkness isn't a freedom to choose, but is slavery; the light is not an enslavement, but is the only way to be free of sin. Those living in darkness fear being shut up in a monastery or convent, but being shut in somewhere is the last thing Christ wants for us. Freedom to choose this or that sin is a lie, as each sin further binds the sinner to a world headed for destruction. True freedom is the ability to choose not to sin, and to give glory to God the Father. Anyone may choose not to sin to avoid punishment, but true freedom is in choosing not to sin because you are already forgiven and no longer want to sin.
If the laws and the punishments spelled out in those laws were suddenly suspended for a time, we would expect a deluge of crime reports in the news. Bank robberies, personal assaults, murders, and many other crimes would be committed by those only held back by the threat of punishment. Yet somehow we still hear the argument that people are basically good. People will only be good when a change is wrought on the inside of those supposedly good people and laws are no longer necessary. God calls this giving them a heart of flesh in one of the prophecies in the Bible. Until that time, we will see the actions that are evil continue to appear in news reports and in person wherever we may fare in our journey with Jesus. Isaiah told us: Those living in darkness have seen a great light. What he didn't know was how many would choose the light and how many would refuse it. We still have some light to shine before the end comes, perhaps many will yet choose the light and allow Jesus to throw off those chains of darkness!
Have a wonderful day in Christ!
Bucky
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