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The Amish Voice 6
TIRED OF YOUR OLD LIFE?
Did you ever come to the realization that
you didn’t like the direction your life was
headed? Maybe you decided that you
needed to change for the better, perhaps
by getting rid of certain habits in your life
or attending church. Whatever the case,
you felt the need to straighten out your
life. Perhaps recently you have realized
you don’t like the way things are in your
life, and you want to change. How
successful have you been in this
endeavor? Has it been frustrating? How
does God look at your attempts? How
good does God want you to live? Today
we will find the answers for a life of true
freedom, joy, and peace. So let us get on
with it!
TRYING TO DO RIGHT
Imagine coming upon an old, rather ugly
looking garbage can. With great
reluctance you ever so slowly open its
lid. Immediately you are hit with the
most nauseating stench; it causes your
entire body to recoil. Now picture an
artist painting the most astoundingly
beautiful picture onto the outside of this
trash can. Would you open the lid now?
“Oh, yeah, right! Not in a thousand
years!” you respond.
This is what so many of us have been
trying to do with our own lives. The
garbage in the trash can represents the sin
in our lives. The painting of the garbage
can represents our attempt to better
ourselves. I trust you see that this is a
failure on a grand scale. For in no wise is
the all-knowing God going to be fooled
by a little spray paint. Indeed, the stench
of sin can easily be sensed through that
beautifully painted shell. No wonder our
Creator says, ...
all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags
(Isaiah 64:6). No doubt,
this is a blow to the human ego.
GOD IS HOLY
Therefore I ask, how close to this garbage
can would you like to be, painted or not?
“Ah,” you say, “I want nothing at all to
do with it!” This is just how God sees
your sin. From the beginning of time God
said,
of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die
(Genesis 2:17). This death
speaks of separation—separation between
humans and God. We know that the first
man and woman God created did in fact
disobey their Creator-God and eat from
this tree. Therefore, all of mankind was
plunged into sin and ruin. For we read,
Wherefore, as by one man
[Adam]
sin
entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned
(Romans 5:12).
Indeed, God recoils at the stench of sin in
our lives and must separate Himself from
it, for He is holy.
We must come to understand that God is
one hundred per cent holy. It is written of
Jesus Christ that He is holy, innocent,
unstained, separated from sinners, and
exalted above the heavens (Hebrews
7:26). Just like there is a separation
between you and the trash can, so there is
a separation between our holy God and
sinful humanity. We must conclude that
we are like a stinking trash can! We can
do nothing to make ourselves attractive to
our Creator-God from whom we have
been separated because of our stinking
sin.
We find in Exodus 20:3-17 things that are
sinful, things that are like the filth in the
trash can, things like using God’s name
as a swear word, bowing to other gods,
murder, adultery, stealing, coveting. In
Matthew 5:21-22 and 27-28, Jesus
expands on this by saying that even if we
entertain the thought of wanting to
murder, we are guilty as if we had done
the sin. Even if we lust after another in an
inappropriate way, we are already guilty
as if we had done it. There is no doubt
about it; our lives are filled with sin, with
filthy trash.
NO ROOM FOR PRIDE
We must understand that we are filthy,
stinking sinners, and are utterly incapable
of saving ourselves. We can do nothing
to beautify ourselves before God. Adam
and Eve attempted to beautify
themselves with fig leaf garments. God
did not accept their efforts, for they still
stank of sin. Therefore, God provided the
remedy—animal skins—to clothe them.
From this point on in the Scriptures, we
see our Creator-God constantly using
animals, especially lambs, as a most
striking visual illustration. Time and time
again, God shows that there must be
death as a consequence of our sin. Time
and time again, an animal, in particular a
lamb, dies in place of the guilty one who
sinned; yet the Holy Bible says that it is
impossible for the blood of bulls and
goats to take away sins
(
Hebrews 10:4).
Elsewhere in Scripture we read of a
group of people who made it their
supreme goal in life to better themselves
by following the Ten Commandments
plus many other man-made rules. Jesus
had this to say to them,
Woe to you…
hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed
tombs, which OUTWARDLY APPEAR
BEAUTIFUL, BUT WITHIN ARE FULL
OF DEAD PEOPLE’S BONES AND ALL
UNCLEANESSS. SO YOU OUTWARDLY
APPEAR RIGHTEOUS TO OTHERS,
BUT WITHIN ARE FULL OF
HYPOCRICY AND LAWLESSNESS
Trying to Be a Christian?
—Victor J. Reimer
Lydia Chorpening