New Life
Two recent news stories have made me ponder the darkness of the human heart: the case of the Steubenville football players, and the sentencing of the Chardon shooter. In both cases, some disturbing videos of both young men were shared by the news media. Looking into their eyes and listening to their words left me cold. Very apparent was their depth of evil, their lack of common decency. I recovered from the chill, consoled by the fact that I am not as bad as those two boys; grateful that I'm sane and well-mannered, usually loving and caring. But are we really that different? Am I really any better than those boys who have tickets to prison?
Easter is coming; a time of celebrating Spring and new life, the end of winter. But in the celebration, our culture usually loses sight of what the holiday signifies. We get all wrapped up in chocolate candy and new outfits, flowers blooming and the promise of warmer weather; and we forget that, while Easter comes at a time of year when all of the above is true, it comes to us to fill our deepest need.
I am no different from a killer or a rapist, in my utmost humanity. It's so easy to look at videos of convicted felons and see their evil, and yet miss the evil that lurks in my own heart. It's so easy to assume that since I have never committed a crime, that I'm OK. And it's just as easy for me to forget the countless crimes I have committed against God and my fellow man. I may not wear a bright orange prison uniform that proclaims my sin, but it's there just the same.
Easter is coming; a time to celebrate the new life in Christ that is ours for the asking, any time of year. A time to celebrate the end of the winter of our slavery to our sin. A time to get caught up in the hope of eternity with Christ, where the weather is always just right, and we are eating something WAY better than chocolate, wrapped in new clothing that will never need to be replaced.
Easter is coming; a time of celebrating Spring and new life, the end of winter. But in the celebration, our culture usually loses sight of what the holiday signifies. We get all wrapped up in chocolate candy and new outfits, flowers blooming and the promise of warmer weather; and we forget that, while Easter comes at a time of year when all of the above is true, it comes to us to fill our deepest need.
I am no different from a killer or a rapist, in my utmost humanity. It's so easy to look at videos of convicted felons and see their evil, and yet miss the evil that lurks in my own heart. It's so easy to assume that since I have never committed a crime, that I'm OK. And it's just as easy for me to forget the countless crimes I have committed against God and my fellow man. I may not wear a bright orange prison uniform that proclaims my sin, but it's there just the same.
Easter is coming; a time to celebrate the new life in Christ that is ours for the asking, any time of year. A time to celebrate the end of the winter of our slavery to our sin. A time to get caught up in the hope of eternity with Christ, where the weather is always just right, and we are eating something WAY better than chocolate, wrapped in new clothing that will never need to be replaced.
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