...from bad to good

Do you believe that people are basically good?  Ask the average person on the street and, even if they don't understand why there's evil in the world, they still think people are basically good.  It somehow makes them feel better to believe we're all generally good people...with some obvious exceptions. Well it doesn't make me feel better.  It means I'm a big, fat failure!  If I'm basically good, why is my heart filled with selfishness?  If I'm basically good, why do I struggle with self-control?  If I've got a "good soul" (as someone told me), why would I never want anyone to know what goes on in my mind?

It's because I'm NOT basically good; I'm basically bad...and the Bible says so.  Genesis 6:5 says "The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil."  We're also told in chapter 8 verse 21 that "man’s inclination is evil from his youth."  That's right, from the get-go, we're all bad.

But aren't you relieved?  This explains why, no matter how hard we try, we're filled with unkindness, impatience and anger.  This clarifies why a parent doesn't have to teach a child to lie or why adults who say they love each other speak hurtfully to one another.  This resolves the question of why a father would abuse his child or why girlfriends gossip about each other.  It's because "the human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9a).  And no matter how hard we try, there's nothing we can do to change this fact.

Thankfully, God has a solution.  If we'll just surrender our lives (and all our "bad") to him and receive his forgiveness, he'll see us as if we've never sinned (justification) and teach us to walk to the beat of a different drum (sanctification).  He'll take our foolish behavior and give us his wisdom.  He'll rescue us from our bad habits and our addictions and show us the way to recovery.  He'll guide us toward selflessness and train us to not be hypocritical.  In short, he'll take the bad and make it good.

2 Corinthians 5:17:  "...anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"

Thank heavens...'cause I'm a mess without him.