Is Human Nature Inherently Good?

Dr. Mike Kingdom Paradigms , ,

Mark 10:18

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Ecclesiastes 8:11

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.

Matthew 15:19

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Luke 6:45

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Matthew 12:34

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

God is the standard of goodness. Even Jesus acknowledges this when he was called a good teacher. He pointedly stated only God is good. Yet there are many in today’s culture who believe humans are naturally, inherently good. They claim evil is the exception. But is this true?

What does history reveal? Nation’s dictatorships killing innocent people by the millions. Nations hating other nations for no other reason but jealousy or being different. Adults being predators of children. Thieves who would rather steal from others than work for a living. People lying to cover up their shortcomings. Gangs selling destructive drugs to others. Organized criminals looting stores. We could spend the day listing all the ways evil resides and is expressed in and through people.  

What does the Bible reveal about the natural inclination of people?

The emotional heart is the central organ of evil. The spirit that influences the heart needs to be changed for goodness to shine. Only after Satan is removed from the scene as pictured in the Book of Revelations, and humans receive the Spirit of God as outlined in Gospel of John, will goodness become the central core of a person’s life. Until then, the battle to control one’s behavior is a never-ending proposition.   

Thankfully, until that time totally arrives, God has provided us with HIS truth of values and goals as outlined in the Bible which help us to continually reposition ourselves unto the path of proper behavior; plus HE continues to shower us with HIS amazing grace that embraces us with HIS favor until that time arrives.

HIS biggest favor is sharing HIS life with you by living HIS life in you and through you. When we accept the Triune God’s authority in our life, HE comes to live in us. The Bible identifies HIM as the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit enriches us with HIS presence and shares HIS fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. All are the basic values which leads a person to experience the richness of life as God created us to enjoy.

The longer we live, the more we see man’s natural inclination is to lean toward evil. Only when the heart has been changed towards accepting God’s authority (Truth) and HIS Spirit merges with ours, is there a semblance of good. Yes, you can be ignorant of God’s ways and still live them out. (Mankind implementing the Ten Commandments in their lives is a good example). But humans still need to learn good; it doesn’t come naturally. All of us are endowed with the internal struggle to channel good over evil. Its not easy. But the reward of being free to express oneself without harming self or others is the outcome. Otherwise, society will suffer and burn while one person indulges themselves into narcissistic behavior until eventually they find them self, alone, miserable, and empty of any emotional happiness. Which would you prefer?

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

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Copyright 2013-2020 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Pride of Life

Dr. Mike Shaped By The WORD , , ,

1 John 2:16

For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.

What is your standard of a successful life? How does your heart measure such success? What are the basic values you pursue to make your dreams come true?

John wrote his letter to the Church warning them of placing their ladder on the wrong wall. How many of us have learned the hard way?  We pursue certain goals built on values we believe are good only to find out many years later how empty and unfulfilling the achievement felt. Looking back, we realize only then that our climb up the ladder may have been fun but eventually ended up on the wrong side of the building. Instead of climbing the north wall, we found ourselves on the opposite side looking across the vast emptiness of space wondering where did we go wrong.

The pride of life blinds many of us from eternal truths and values which produce the more abundant life that we all desire but seem to escape us through the jungle of everyday decisions.

What is the pride of life?

A simple answer is everything and anything which places more importance on the things of this world rather than the eternal habitat God created for you to experience.

God is the author of GOOD. And many of the items we pursue are by themselves good. But our inability to manage them leads to paths of destruction and pain for ourselves and others.

For example, water is a good element. We all need water to survive. We use water as a healthy liquid to drink. We use water to bathe and clean ourselves. And we use water to cook. We even swim in water for relaxation or exercise. But we can also drown ourselves in water. Hold your head underwater for a length of time and you will run out of oxygen and drown.

This is what happens when we wrap our hearts around what makes us feel important. Our status, career, and achievements are only a few of the measuring marks our culture emphasizes as important. Do you?

The pride of life consists of the values this world emphasizes as important at the detriment of leaving Father God out of the picture.

Fame, winning, and academic success are a few more values the world glorifies. Sometimes the world counterfeits God’s concerns but their methods and ways are anti-God. One example is social justice. The human heart has a natural tendency to classify, segregate, and exclude whoever the power base decides is important or unimportant.

At the same time, the culture with an ungodly center, has a tendency to group people together and treat all of them the same rather than individuals. Whereas God looks at each individual’s heart to evaluate their behavior and the action required for justice to be measured, the ungodly establishment seek to punish the entire group for the infraction of one.

When God is not the center of life, the human spirit becomes empowered with pride which blinds the person from separating fantasy from reality and eventually leads toward harming those around them.

Pride is the downfall of many who have a high opinion of themselves. The sad truth is they rarely suffer alone. They normally take along all those who have followed them through the maze. From Lucifer whose pride turned him into Satan, and from many of the dictators, politicians, cult leaders, and business mavericks, pride has led to the destruction of many. The opposite of pride is humility. Humility is God’s path toward learning to walk together in community. Humility places God in the center of every relationship, decision, and plan we make. We acknowledge HIS presence; respect HIS authority in our life; and work to restore HIS values into everyday living. Without God, pride rules. With God, humility leads. Which way will you choose?    

   

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

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First and Last

Dr. Mike Scriptures , , , ,

Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Mark 10:31  &  Luke 13:30

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Our culture admires those who come in first. We give them recognition, rewards, and hold them up as a standard of greatness. On the other side, those who finish last are not even mentioned nor rarely identified. We generally classify them as a loser of losers.

Yet Jesus destroyed the concept of first and last from a humanistic perspective and reserved the title for himself.

With two parables, Jesus superimposed the concept just because one is first or one comes last doesn’t give them priority in God’s eyes. In Matthew’s writing, the narrative of Labors in the Vineyard emphasizes he who owns can distribute how he wants too without any outside conditions. In this case God owns and he can adhere to your conditional promises or he can choose to be generous and give more than agreed too. Since it is HIS, HE doesn’t have to comply to someone else’s rules or expectations.

Again, Luke writes a similar statement in chapter thirteen that being chronologically first or last may be a human perspective of importance, but God works on a different value system. HE will shake up people’s semblance of fairness and determine people’s position of leadership as HE chooses for HIS Kingdom’s government.

Jesus’ own life blows apart the importance mankind places on being first or last. He preached a message of the Kingdom of God which will rule the world. His disciples believed it would happen in their life time. During the three plus years Jesus trained and prepared them for leadership, he also mentioned several times that his mission will eventually lead to his death. They didn’t truly understand that message until after his ascension into heaven. Until then, they continue to jockey for position of leadership within HIS kingdom where even onetime John’s mother asked Jesus to make both her sons sit next to HIM on his throne.

Our culture emphasizes winning over losing. Jesus’ value system places greater emphasis on first serving others. To win or to lose are temporary states of events. Serving others though is a lifetime process which leads to help others win. Losing is the school of discovering oneself and improving oneself for better service for others.

The real winner who has already taken the title is Jesus. He is the Alpha and the Omega. The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. He started the entire human process called LIFE and he will be there at the end when humanity is totally resurrected into a new age.

We are his students putting into practice values which create a world which allows all to flourish. In our lifetime, we will win and lose. There will be times we will be first in line and times we will be last in line. It doesn’t matter. What matters is God freely living HIS life in you where you reflect HIS glory for the sake of others.  Remember, Jesus has already taken the first and last position of the most important event you are involved with – your Life.   

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-2020 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved