“…The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” Psalm 14:1
Dear Ones:
In this Psalm of David, where this verse is found, we find a declaration concerning the true condition of man. David wrote, “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.” (14:2-3) Man is not only born blind spiritually, but more so, born dead. How can this be? He is born “dead to God,” completely without feeling, desire for, or true concept of Him. What arises out of this “human nature,” which the Bible calls, “the flesh,” and “self,” is a hopelessness, an existence without expectation of that which is beyond “reason” and selfish desire. The result is that one “exists,” but one does not “live.”
When Christ came, He declared: “I am come that they might have LIFE, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (Jn. 10:10) The enigma, the mystery, of Christianity, lies in the fact that it cannot be seen, grasped, and understood by the “natural man,” the man without God. It is to him foolishness because, not only does he not feel the need to be “helped” or “saved” by a God he does not know, but he cannot deny himself as his own master, and the determiner of his “fate.” He is his own “god.” Where the concept of a “paradox” enters in, is when Christianity seems to be something born, created, formed…in the heart of someone who is totally incapable of manufacturing it, even believing it. On the one hand, man is “dead” to spiritual reality, and yet, that spiritual reality comes to him, to awaken him out of his sleep, and open his blind eyes. It comes from without, in order to transform that which is within. How? By man’s response to the promptings, and overtures of God. Jesus said, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw (attract him…).” (Jn. 6:44) To this paradox, where death reigns, and spiritual life knocks at the door, Jesus says: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘He that believes on Me hath everlasting LIFE.” (v. 47) The response to God awakening the soul to spiritual reality, and drawing the heart towards Christ, is faith…a turning away from trust in “self,” to place one’s hope solely in Christ as Lord and Life.
The “logic” of Christianity I believe is so very well expressed in the following quote:
“Upon a Life I did not live; Upon a death I did not die; Another’s Life, Another’s death, I stake my whole eternity.”
Dear Father, let us not be swayed by what we see or feel, but supremely by the revelation of Yourself in Christ. He had to become an “ant among ants” that we might grasp something of the greatness, and beauty of Yourself. Enable us to take Him to be our all, since all is in Him, for time and eternity. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad