Day 4124 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Romans 7:5 NIV

takes a right through wrongs

On the surface it seems a considerable counter productivity to have had the law given which would thereby outline all the ways in which we’ve all fallen out of line in what’s long been a life in which we’re all falling behind in terms of following He who is the Life. I mean, doesn’t it seem the least bit strange that God would bestow this thing upon His children that would cause said children to realize they’d grown into what’s really nothing short of heathenistic, hedonistic criminals who, having broken literally every law we’d be given, would then so too opt for a life spent hiding from Him?

Truly, why would He do such a grievous thing unto we who were created in His image and therein meant to be His loving children?

Well, because the simple reality is that we’ve all long since forgotten that we were made in His image having obviously opted instead to brazenly fulfill that part in Scripture where it’s said that in the last times there would be those who are found “having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5

See, it is in there!

But so too is there in there what is that last line which pretty much perfectly defines the problem we all now have.

Yeah, it’s the part about our all having a form of godliness of which we’ve all clearly denied the power thereof in what’s been a life in which we’ve used the power thereof to come up with what are instead all these ways to do wrong and feel even somehow justified by it. But it’s really that little part that comes even after that. It’s that line in which we’re called to “have nothing to do with such people.”

Problem being that, well, we are such people.

All of us.

We’re all the ones who’ve validated the very veracity, validity, literally lived versions of life in which we’ve entirely verified that He didn’t lie when He spoke of the way of life we’ve in truth come to live in what’s likely then the last of time.

After all, how much longer do we think He’s going to prove still willing to put up with a world still giving Him nothing but heartbreak and headache?

No, I’d venture to imagine that it shouldn’t be all that hard for us to look at the state of the world as is always to be defined by the things being done herein and imagine Him having just about had His fill.

In short, I think we’ve just about run out of time to, well, do as asked to and come out of our mind.

In fact this thought’s been so heavy on me here lately that it’s inspired this little run through Scripture seeking to discuss what is, at least what I feel, a descent into madness.

And that’s because of late I honestly feel as if I’m losing what little grip I thought I had. As if I’m reaching the very end of myself as it feels that each day I’m helped to the seeing and understanding of where I’m standing and why nothing here makes much sense anymore. I’m truly basking in this ability to drown in the insanity of a life that feels finally as if it’s being given unto the great undoing that He came to begin. And indeed, I believe that He will continue this good work that He’s begun within me until He returns again to take us home.

Us being those few who do do as He’s called us to which is to come apart from the world and touch no longer all of their unclean things, turning rather unto the path narrow upon which we find that our interests in life narrow themselves until we’re finally just standing there naked and alone waiting to go home having found this life was always but a rental lived alongside the rather demented who, having denied the power to be found within their personal form of godliness, have joined the crowds in being drown in all manner of deception’s delights.

And indeed, the point of this post in what is this string discussing the path to insanity as is to be seen inside us few who shall be deemed as freaks, it’s that we’ve all done just that.

We’ve all done so much so wrong and that for so long too that many here have no idea what all we have to lose because most here are so lost that they think they’ve found the very point and purpose of life itself. And that somehow it’s nothing more than such temporal treasures as public popularity and personal pleasure.

In short it isn’t as in fact those and their many like are nowhere even remotely close to what’s always been the simple reason for which we’ve been given this life.

It was simply because God wanted for us to live and to do so being His.

That’s pretty much the only reason that He’d have gone to all that work creating us in His image, thereby endowing us with what is that form of godliness that we’ve all so clearly forgotten, ignored, denied, discounted then so badly that we’ve all basically become the entirety of everything He isn’t.

Such as greedy, gluttonous, indecent, immoral, immodest, dishonest, entirely depraved, and utterly delighted by the same.

Yes, we are in every way everything that He never once created us to be nor called us to become.

Problem is that it’s all we’ve been for so long now that it seems all we think we ought to be.

Which is where the need of madness’s insanity comes into play.

It’s found in our need to join Him in His different kind of walking away. Granted, His way of walking away was achieved both through a cross upon which His mortal life was lost and therefore onward through the grave in which it was proven that He had in fact gave up His life for us to see that sin was of such the win in regard to death that, well, death is pretty much the only way to ever be done with the deal. And so yeah, it seems now almost natural for us to feel as if there must be another way, one in which, on which there’s not quite so much pain.

But friends, His Word says that it’s those who suffer in the body who are too then done with sin.

And, well, we’ve only proven time and again that we’re entirely disinterested in dealing with even minor inconveniences, little annoyances, tiny grievances and the smallest, minutest of all miseries and mundanities. Indeed, we even so despise something as arguably conducive to life’s creativeness as boredom is that we’ve chosen instead to at first invent all of this technology that could keep us entertained and then, as of today, all but succumbed to the same in what’s anymore a way of life in which some folks haven’t probably been outdoors in weeks or more.

Yet, again, we somehow remain seemingly convinced that this is as good as it gets.

Obviously then having become rather blind too as, well, looking around at the many things being done around us and how widely accepted literally all of them are, it should be pretty clear to see the rest of those spiritual ills listed in the opening of 2 Timothy 3.

For indeed, people are now “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,” obviously then still “having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

Problem is that rather than having “nothing to do with such people”, again, we remain such people.

Because it’s what we’ve all become convinced we’re all supposed to be, and that simply because, unto us, it makes sense. It feels good. It pays well. It achieves for us all the fame and fortune and even friendship that these lonely souls could ever hope to know.

Issue then becomes the temporality to it all thanks to how, again as His Word posits, “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Indeed, it’s clear across the entirety of society that the vast majority have little if any concern as to eternity. Rather most folks continue chasing these fading hopes of making homes, having fun, being rich, becoming famous. It’s truly amazing all the things we’ve proven so impressively willing to settle for. It’s not surprising as again it was all forecasted within His giving us that list of the things we’ve do and become as has now been quoted a couple of times above.

It’s just that I don’t think we have any idea as to the sheer depth to which such denials and depravities have gone.

Which is, again, why we need to go insane.

It’s because, well, as I said the other day, how are we ever to be better if not we’re helped to see first how far we are away?

That’s why the Law was gave.

It’s to help us see the depth of our decay and depravity. It’s to outline for us the many ways in which we’ve lost the plot, given up the ghost, walked away from what is and remains our only hope, literally denied God and rejected any and all mention of His Son who came to save us by giving up His life for us. The law defines us a sinners, pointing out every failure and flaw to be found inside the sum of all that we’ve done under the sun and here against the Son.

In short it accomplishes what this verse points out rather concisely.

It’s that, having lived for the flesh so too then have we been sowing and are now harvesting what is the fruit of death. And that’s because the truth is that the flesh obviously desires that which is contrary to the Spirit, who is the third form of God’s trinity, the part meant to be given unto His children as something of a down payment upon what is our inheritance of what is eternal life, a gift given us in Christ having chosen to die in our place and that for our sins, which He himself didn’t commit.

I mean, honestly, the Spirit, who is God, would have then no such desires as we all so obviously do.

For in truth, what’s with all this stuff that we do and/or enjoy watching, hearing, knowing that others do? Y’all ever really stop and notice our cultural fascination with such things as violence, immodesty, death even?

Seriously, I love the fall time of the year but anymore it brings with it this fear of helloween’s many growing frustrations and heartbreaks and disappointments. And that’s because, rather than being about free candy and fun costumes, it’s become nothing but a bunch of blood and death and gore and just the most shameful displays of mental, emotional, spiritual decay.

Because we’ve become a people who like it that way.

We’re so far gone in the worst of all feasible directions that we have, as a society, clearly no direction left anymore. Rather, as again spoken of in the Bible, “in those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Not that we haven’t now a King as, well, we certainly do. Problem is that we’ve all become nearly perfect at denying Him, ignoring Him, living as if He’s just some figment of the failing imaginations of what are, again, a few freaks who seem to be losing their minds as inside their lives there isn’t there to find any continued agreement with the violent pleasement of this people we are.

I mean, who would so forgo the many enjoyments this world still offers?

Well, those who have but have too found that such passing pleasures only bring with them permanent regrets.

And no amount of enjoyment, entertainment, even friendships or financial gain can ever wash away the feelings of remorse and shame.

Trust me, I know!

And that’s simply because I know what it’s like to live, for what’s proven a really long time, on what’s thus long been the wrong side of the law. Now granted, such was bound to happen as we’re all members of a fallen people living in a fallen world that teaches us all to all but marvel in our many abilities and opportunities to deny the authority of God. We love proving Him wrong, or trying to at least. Indeed, we’ve come to absolutely adore doing whatever we want to do as if He’s simply not there to see any of it and can have then no problems with all of it.

Problem is that He is and, judging from the scene seen upon Calvary, He does have some really big issues with it.

Because what He sees are His own children living what is a way of life that has them lost inside this delight to do as they shouldn’t. He sees His creation continuing to choose to ignore Him, to refuse His gifts, to reject His promises. He sees a people willfully choosing death over life.

And, well, what Father would ever be okay with that?

In fact, why are we okay with that? I thought we were supposed to be so afraid of death that we did everything we could to avoid it. And yet anymore it seems that nearly every movie and tv show is all about it. Indeed, we’re a people who love suffering and misery, so long as they’re endured by another.

Actually, that reminds me of that time that a bunch of us gathered around the foot of a cross cheering on as an innocent Man lost His life for doing nothing more than giving sight to the blind and hearing the deaf and hope to the lost and life to us all.

Mocked Him as we considered Him afflicted, forgotten, not then worth remembering.

Which, just looking around at what we’ve all become and most will forever remain, yeah, seems we still don’t have much interest.

Because still we do things that we shouldn’t. Still we say things without thinking them through. Still we watch shows that show us only the worst of humanity, diving ourselves into the depraved insanity of those who’s minds are filled with all this violence and hatred for humanity.

Why do we do it?

Because the law came in and defined us as sinners. And, rather than accepting that we were the ones in the wrong, we’ve chosen instead to try and prove Him wrong by showing Him how much fun and enjoyment and success we could have in what have become lives in which denying Him is all it seems we know to do.

Until such time as that in which here we sit in what’s now a world in which so much is so wrong that there’s no way to fix it. In fact, we’re running out of hope that He can fix us. Not because He can’t but simply because He can’t fix what we’ll not confess we’ve broken.

And friends, we broken!

So broken in fact that we daily choose to keep doing the things that keep bearing the fruit of death as is being seen, and by some felt, already. It’s there in such things as all this hatred and animosity that our society is so happily lost in. It’s in the rejoicing over refusing responsibility as is witnessed in those who are happy to have, let’s say, played the game and medically chosen to avoid the baby. It’s in this month being one in which many celebrate pride, which is itself perfectly defined as sin. It’s in our following of men and putting our trust and hope within the same simply because we’re lost playing another game that we call politics.

Friends, our world’s in a mess and all of it is because of us.

Again, we’re just down here killing ourselves.

All of being done in the name of fun and success and pleasure and comfort and advancement and prosperity and popularity and whatever other drug we get high on anymore.

And yeah, it sucks worse than we could imagine to be forced to see the many times that we ourselves have chosen and chased after those things in our lives. It’s a misery unlike any other that we know to realize we’ve made so many mistakes in life, each one coming with the consequence of a better life we never lived. Hurts like hell as they say.

And, well, I say that’s a good thing!

Indeed, for days now I’ve been praying that God would help me to see what all I’ve gotten wrong, what all better things I missed because of it. Why? Because I want to feel the misery in this life. I want to know what all I’ve messed up in this life so that I don’t miss the turn off to eternal life. Yes, I want to know just how low I chose to go so that I can learn how to do better with whatever time I happen to have left.

Both because I want something better than who I’ve been and what I’ve done, but also because I know that He deserves better than just watching me continue to destroy myself.

He’s seen that enough.

Friends, it’s true that this faith will open our eyes to see just how much we’ve gotten wrong in our lives. And no, that will never be fun and that’s why few will ever endure it. But we’re promised that those who do endure will be the same who are saved. So welcome it. Embrace it. I dare you to even try to learn to enjoy it.

Why?

Because across the expanse of eternity we’re all promised both life and death. We’re going to experience them both. But the reality is that our greatest hope should always be living life for eternity and death then proven the experience with the greatest brevity. So let us then admit our guilt and endure the death it is in what is this life that we’ve all already lost.

For it’s only in doing so that we can find a new fruit sown.

And that thankfully not by us who’ve proven we’ve no idea what we’re doing.

No, Christ came to do a new thing, a thing accomplished in His calling us to follow Him and do as He did which is lay down a sinful flesh.

So let us storm into the grave seeking to shed this skin we’ve been living in and put on there the “all things made new” promise that He came to bring us.

Because friends, if we don’t do something new then all we can ever be is only whatever we’ve always been. And, well, sinners deserving death just doesn’t have the same ring as children of God forgiven and set free.

For we’ve all been the one already. I just pray we learn to find joy in becoming the other before that chance is lost forever.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold