Have you ever seen a seemingly energetic, confident, and competent – “calm, cool, and collected” – person just “lose it?” I’ll bet we all have; sometimes we need only to look in a mirror, right? Why do some normally up-beat and always sweet people suddenly become so upset and in an awful mood. Well, after all, we do live in an imperfect, all too human world. We might suggest that “it’s just human nature” and that it’s been this way from the beginning.
“God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. So God said to Noah, “I’ve decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence.” (Gen. 6:12–13, NLT)
It’s a challenge for ‘Christian people’ to cope with living in a “corrupt/violent” world where such stuff happens all the time…even to good folks. This reminds me of Jesus’ response to the rich man: “Why do you ask me about what’s good? There is only One who is good. If you want eternal life, obey the commandments” (Matt. 19:17). So, yes, we live in a ‘fallen’ world – Adam and Eve fell from God’s grace when they sinned by disobeying His commandment to not eat that fruit.
We see, then, that man’s nature is finite – extremely limited and when we feel overwhelmed, by discomfort or pain, we’re apt to respond with a knee-jerk reaction and likely a negative one. That’s when we must pull ourselves together, maybe ask for forgiveness, or extend it (even to self), try to make things right, and learn from our experience – to grow wiser and stronger from it.
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” (Col. 3:2)
-John Driggers (2/19/2024, V6 #8)
