I don’t really like when someone says: “You know, we are ALL CHILDREN OF GOD”. Its a pretty sentiment, but quite untrue. One thing I know I have in common with every other person is that I am flawed and sinful. At the same time, God is at work in my life sanctifying (making holy) me. What a dichotomy! Dostoevsky captured the idea that we are all individually and collectively fallen in The Brothers Karamazov with the idea that “each man is at least partly guilty for another’s sin”. He plainly reminds us in Demons “In sinning, each man sins against all, and each man is at least partly guilty for another’s sin. There is no isolated sin.” We all deserve the wrath of our Maker. We have been deceived into rebellion and allied ourselves with the very enemy of our soul. But, God in Christ Jesus takes people like you and I who are spiritually ‘dead men walking’ and He makes us alive together in Christ. What great news to share with everyone we know.
And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:1-7 NASB
Can I remember how I used to “walk”? How wonderful is it to be free from guilt and shame?
God, as this day begins- I have some unfinished tasks that You have inspired. Work within me to accomplish Your will in Your way. Bless my efforts. Thank you that I was able to love Luis in Your name. Meet his deep needs as he raises his children. For Ubong, encourage him, protect him, and free him for Your glory.
