On the Somber Side

Anchor 2

Last week’s column was about acknowledging God as the loving Creator of all that exists. It’s the first anchor. Why is it that many people want nothing to do with God even though He loves them and wants the best for them? It’s because we are sinners by nature and by practice. That is why many would prefer God to stay out of their lives. We don’t want to be told what’s right or wrong but we are very ready to demand what’s right from others. But read to the end because there is very good news ahead.
The second anchor is an unpleasant but necessary truth because it requires us to admit that we are sinful. This hardly invokes our sunny side, but in order to make any progress we have to face the truth. If a doctor shows us proof that we have a cancer that will kill us unless we undergo serious medical treatment, would we tell the doctor to change his conclusion and tell us we’ll be fine? No, we must face the truth before we can remedy the fault. Some people try to evade the truth by choosing one of the following options.
They claim that there is no God or Judgment Day. This life is all there is. We came out of nowhere and are going into oblivion. Make the best of life for yourself.
They believe that God won’t condemn anyone. God is love so we will all be OK no matter what we do.
Some hope to do more good things than bad things, then they’ll be alright. Try to do what’s right and that should earn your way into God’s favor.
But hanging over us is the verse that says: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” After all God has made for us and done for us the only logical response is to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. That is the most important commandment and therefore breaking it is the worst sin. There is no hope for those who seek to make it on their own or assume that there are no consequences. We have to admit that our condition is beyond our ability to remedy and submit to a treatment that will solve the problem. But is such a thing available? There is, and next week we’ll deal with that GOOD NEWS!

Henry Wiebe