[ecko_quote source="Ecclesiastes 7:29"]Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright. But they have sought out many schemes[/ecko_quote]
I read a story about a mother who had a daughter. As the mother was busy with her routines, every now and then, her daughter would distract her. To keep the daughter busy, she tore a page on which was printed the map of the world. She tore it into pieces and asked her daughter to go into her room and put them back together to make up the map again. You can call it, the easier version of a jigsaw puzzle. The mother assumed her daughter would surely take the whole day to get this done and that she could carry on with her work without any distractions. But her daughter came back within minutes with a perfect world map.
The curious and confused mother asked her daughter how she managed to do it so quickly. She giggled and said, “Oh Mom, there is a man’s picture on the other side of the paper. I made the man’s picture perfect to get the map right. The moral of the story is when the man (humankind) is placed uprightly in their position all the problems of the world would be solved. The problems are not with the world but the ones who live in the world. King Solomon with his great wisdom in discerning things concluded that God made man upright but man sought several evil schemes to corrupt his nature and deviate from God’s will. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). The nature of man has become corrupt and lost conscious to discern good and holy. Google's motto at one stage was "Don't be evil!" but their recently restructured company no longer holds this motto. How that relates to this; that's something I would leave for each of you to draw your own conclusions on.
We could see the consequences of this disobedient nature and corrupt schemes. In so many families, there is no peace. They are either troubled with parents or children. Separation and divorce had become the routine of life. Several broken families exist and we have single parents raising up the kids. Most of these kids easily deviate from the course and end up in wrong places because of the lack of role model in the family. We are living in this age and culture where the wickedness is only gaining magnitude. If parents are not God fearing, then how can we expect children to fear God? When parents are living a loose life, surely their children will follow them. It would be too late to correct or change life when the reaping time comes. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7). Probably you are not pleased to read this devotion, but my dear ones it is my responsibility to warn you. Or else, I would be responsible and am judged.
To sum up, in Romans 7:18, Apostle Paul cried out to God stating “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it”. I discovered this principle of life – that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong”.
What the solution then. The solution is provided in v24 "Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Lord provided the way by putting His life as a ransom and redeemed our souls from sin and death. Furthermore, He provided us with Holy Spirit God who gives us the power to say no to sin. Through Him - Holy Spirit, we can put to death the deeds of our sinful nature (Romans 8:13). Take care your children now; lead them in a Godly way so that they would remember you and appreciate your sacrifices. They will celebrate your role model and keep up this legacy you leave behind for generations to come.
Image Source:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Google_web_search.png]
