May. 5, 2008 - Plumbing the depths of my yuckiness

I continue to have the tremendous privilege of teaching a group of kids every Sunday morning.  It has been a blast and I am learning as much, and probably more than the children about our great, living God.

I just wanted to post a quick note on the way that we have been describing sin in our class.  Sin is described as "preferring anything else to God".   At first glance, this definition does not seem quite right.  But as I have thought about this definition, I have realized that it goes far beyong the simplicity of lawbreaking.  I am not only a lawbreaker, but at my center I am a depraved mess.  I always want what I desire.  My thoughts are concentrated on putting myself at the center of the universe (mine and everyone else's universes).   My desires are typically for temporary, unfulfilling things.

The chief of all ironies is that preferring anything except God does not satisify.  Did you hear that?  The things that we naturally desire most will not ultimately provide the satisfaction we all seek.  God alone is the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Bread for the hungry, the Water for the thirsty, the Lover for the unlovely.   Best of all, He wants us to know and love and prefer Him.  And by sending His Son to die, He did all that was necessary for us to know Him and be satisfied. 

That's all for now.