OUR LORD GRIEVES

Dear Lord, good morning. How are you today?


Dear child, do you see what is happening in your world? I am grieved by humanity's utter evil against each other. It grieves me greatly.


OUR LORD GRIEVES DEEPLY
Christ Jesus sees all the evil in this world, and He also sees all the good. I imagine Christ has a balanced view of humanity, where He rejoices in all goodness and grieves over all evil, simultaneously, as only God truly can.


My question to our Lord this morning was simple: "How are you today?" I expected to receive the usual, innocuous response we often give to each other, such as, "I'm fine." However, the point is that our Lord is not fine. He is hurting. He witnesses people committing terrible atrocities against each other every second of every day. Since the rebellion of Adam and Eve, all of humanity has continually repeated the Cain and Able saga.


CAIN AND ABEL
"Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.'" (Genesis 4:6-7)


Since that time, there has been a raging battle in the spiritual realms. Sin is always crouching at our door, ready to lead us away from Christ and into evil. How do you think God feels about this? I believe He grieves deeply.


DEEP REGRETS
The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, "I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds, and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them." (Genesis 6:5-7)


So profound was our Heavenly Father's regret that he wiped out everyone except Noah and his family and started over.


Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people, animals, creatures that move along the ground, and birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, along with those in the ark. (Genesis 7:23)


GOD'S PROMISE
The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done." (Genesis 8:21)


We are born needing a Savior, someone to rescue us from our natural inclination toward evil. We must be redeemed, and Christ has provided the only solution to our dilemma. Our path is one of Acceptance of the Way of Christ.


Accepting The Way:

1. Accepting God's love for us despite our natural inclination toward rebellion against God in both small and significant ways, resulting in us doing evil.
   
2. Accepting Christ's death, the perfect sacrifice and atonement for our sinful, evil nature, along with the subsequent forgiveness and reconciliation that comes from accepting Christ's work on the cross for us.
   
3. Accepting Christ's desire to rule us through His Holy Spirit, that we would conform to His desires and plans for our lives, leading to our inevitable surrender to Christ's will in every aspect of our lives if our acceptance of Christ is complete.
   
4. Accepting that we are eternal beings, and if we have surrendered our lives to Christ, we have a place of power and glory awaiting us in Heaven.
   
   
   

Let us maintain an eternal perspective.


ACCEPTING THE CONDITION OF THIS WORLD
As I seek to draw some conclusions here, what comes to mind is further acceptance. Not only do we have to accept Christ Jesus and His leadership over every aspect of our earthly lives, but we also have to accept that this world, in its present form, is:


• Filled with evil.
• Tempting us with sins, both large and small.
• Trying to distract our attention from Christ Jesus.


ACTIONS TO TAKE
Here are a few actions you may want to consider:


• Realize that this world is not our home.
• We are only "visitors" here for a short time.
• Our true home is in heaven, and we are headed there if we remain faithful.
• Being faithful requires surrendering to Christ.


A WORD TO CHRISTIAN LEADERS
Those called to be leaders in the Christian community need to role model behavior. It begins with the condition of our hearts. As we see, the "inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood." Each of us must be redeemed and surrender to Christ and His will for our lives every single day. For we know that if we don't, sin is crouching, waiting to pounce on even the most seemingly godly Christ-follower. No one is immune. All we have is a daily reprieve. Let us surrender today and every day to Christ.


CLOSING PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, have your way with me today in every aspect of my life. May every fiber of my being surrender to you, and may your Holy Spirit control all I think, say, and do, today and always. Amen.


Your aspiring servant, Daniel M.
November 1, 2023
POSTSCRIPT: Dear friends, if this daily, transparent "Conversations with Christ" blesses you, please visit www.SOLIDpastors.org, where you will find these posts and a repository of all, in English and Spanish. Note: All scriptures quoted are from the NIV.
If you ever want to chat, you can reach me at [email protected]. May Christ bless you richly as you have your own intimate, daily conversations with Christ.