An Inconvenient Truth

Vol 3 No 31 THEO'S DEVOS

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Please forgive me for this but there are a few things in the Bible that I wish were not true. One of them is that the heart of every person is evil and not good. You may be tuning me out right now but stay with me for a minute. There is a pervasive theory throughout the world that men and women are basically good with a tendency toward bad acts once in a while and, they would admit, there may be some people who are truly evil. What the Bible teaches is not that everyone is totally evil but that the natural inclination of all people is not goodness but just the opposite.

I think the best place to notice this is with children. Have you ever noticed that you don't have to train kids to be bad. Why is it that parents have to work hard to train children to be good. Now some children are just wonderful and we have very little difficulty with them. Although that is probably true of your kids, if you have any, but even the best of kids don't have to be shown how to do bad things like be self-centered or do mischievous things. They manage to do that without any help from anyone. Most children, if not all, have to be taught to share, to be courteous, to not lie, etc.

Even we as adults often have to think and will ourselves to do the right thing. Think about someone who has hurt you; about the person you need to forgive but have not been able to do so. Even knowing that to not forgive is like a cancer eating away at you from the inside out. Your lack of forgiveness only hurts you. The one who needs forgiveness may not even know it. They lose no sleep and never think about it while it may haunt your thoughts quite often. Why is it so hard to forgive even when you know it is the right thing to do? Because doing the right thing does not come naturally to human beings. In fact it is such a Godly thing that it takes the help of God to pull it off.

When we sinned against God, the first thing He did was work out a plan so that we could not only be forgiven for that sin but that we could be brought into a position of reward. The worst of sinners can find forgiveness from God because doing the right thing is the nature of God.

Admitting that we have sinned is the first step toward getting God's forgiveness and forgiving others should be a natural act for us. However, unfortunately we, as adults, often act like children and do the wrong thing even though it hurts us. Paul said that he felt like the worst of sinners but wasn't afraid to admit that because he knew how much God loved him and would forgive him for that sin.

Do you know how much God loves you? I hope so because when you do it will make all the difference in your life. You will be able to love others even when they are mean to you because you know that you are passing on the love God has given you. You will be able to avoid the natural tendency to do the wrong thing because you believe that doing the right thing will make your God happy and that, in turn will bring happiness to you.

I am not happy that we are not all good at the core but I am ecstatic that God can reverse out natural tendencies and show us the way to loving others in His name. I truly hope and pray that this day will be one of great blessing for you. If it is not then I pray that you will allow God to guide you through it so that by the time it is over, you will know that God is in your life making the difference.

Theo
Eph 4:11-13



Dear Small Group Leader (or soon to be Facilitator)

Please allow everyone in your group to answer the Quick Question. It will get things started on the right foot, encouraging quieter ones to open up. Please do not require everyone to answer every question. They may not be ready to share yet. Also please allow at least 5-10 minutes at the end of your study so as many as would like to can respond to the REFLECTION question. This may be the most important time in your small group study. Thank You


SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

Please Read: Romans 3:21-31

QUICK QUESTION: If you wanted to send an encouraging note to all your friends, how would you get it to them?

1.Where does our righteousness come from?

2.How can someone appropriate righteousness?

3.What quality do you share with everyone else?

4.How much did our justificatgion cost God?

5.What is the relationship between law and faith?


REFLECTION: How could you share the good news with someone this week?