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The Amish Voice 6

TIRED OF YOUR OLD LIFE?

Did you ever come to the realization that

you didn’t like the direction your life was

headed? Maybe you decided that you

needed to change for the better, perhaps

by getting rid of certain habits in your life

or attending church. Whatever the case,

you felt the need to straighten out your

life. Perhaps recently you have realized

you don’t like the way things are in your

life, and you want to change. How

successful have you been in this

endeavor? Has it been frustrating? How

does God look at your attempts? How

good does God want you to live? Today

we will find the answers for a life of true

freedom, joy, and peace. So let us get on

with it!

TRYING TO DO RIGHT

Imagine coming upon an old, rather ugly

looking garbage can. With great

reluctance you ever so slowly open its

lid. Immediately you are hit with the

most nauseating stench; it causes your

entire body to recoil. Now picture an

artist painting the most astoundingly

beautiful picture onto the outside of this

trash can. Would you open the lid now?

“Oh, yeah, right! Not in a thousand

years!” you respond.

This is what so many of us have been

trying to do with our own lives. The

garbage in the trash can represents the sin

in our lives. The painting of the garbage

can represents our attempt to better

ourselves. I trust you see that this is a

failure on a grand scale. For in no wise is

the all-knowing God going to be fooled

by a little spray paint. Indeed, the stench

of sin can easily be sensed through that

beautifully painted shell. No wonder our

Creator says, ...

all our righteousnesses are

as filthy rags

(Isaiah 64:6). No doubt,

this is a blow to the human ego.

GOD IS HOLY

Therefore I ask, how close to this garbage

can would you like to be, painted or not?

“Ah,” you say, “I want nothing at all to

do with it!” This is just how God sees

your sin. From the beginning of time God

said,

of the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the

day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt

surely die

(Genesis 2:17). This death

speaks of separation—separation between

humans and God. We know that the first

man and woman God created did in fact

disobey their Creator-God and eat from

this tree. Therefore, all of mankind was

plunged into sin and ruin. For we read,

Wherefore, as by one man

[Adam]

sin

entered into the world, and death by sin;

and so death passed upon all men, for

that all have sinned

(Romans 5:12).

Indeed, God recoils at the stench of sin in

our lives and must separate Himself from

it, for He is holy.

We must come to understand that God is

one hundred per cent holy. It is written of

Jesus Christ that He is holy, innocent,

unstained, separated from sinners, and

exalted above the heavens (Hebrews

7:26). Just like there is a separation

between you and the trash can, so there is

a separation between our holy God and

sinful humanity. We must conclude that

we are like a stinking trash can! We can

do nothing to make ourselves attractive to

our Creator-God from whom we have

been separated because of our stinking

sin.

We find in Exodus 20:3-17 things that are

sinful, things that are like the filth in the

trash can, things like using God’s name

as a swear word, bowing to other gods,

murder, adultery, stealing, coveting. In

Matthew 5:21-22 and 27-28, Jesus

expands on this by saying that even if we

entertain the thought of wanting to

murder, we are guilty as if we had done

the sin. Even if we lust after another in an

inappropriate way, we are already guilty

as if we had done it. There is no doubt

about it; our lives are filled with sin, with

filthy trash.

NO ROOM FOR PRIDE

We must understand that we are filthy,

stinking sinners, and are utterly incapable

of saving ourselves. We can do nothing

to beautify ourselves before God. Adam

and Eve attempted to beautify

themselves with fig leaf garments. God

did not accept their efforts, for they still

stank of sin. Therefore, God provided the

remedy—animal skins—to clothe them.

From this point on in the Scriptures, we

see our Creator-God constantly using

animals, especially lambs, as a most

striking visual illustration. Time and time

again, God shows that there must be

death as a consequence of our sin. Time

and time again, an animal, in particular a

lamb, dies in place of the guilty one who

sinned; yet the Holy Bible says that it is

impossible for the blood of bulls and

goats to take away sins

(

Hebrews 10:4).

Elsewhere in Scripture we read of a

group of people who made it their

supreme goal in life to better themselves

by following the Ten Commandments

plus many other man-made rules. Jesus

had this to say to them,

Woe to you…

hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed

tombs, which OUTWARDLY APPEAR

BEAUTIFUL, BUT WITHIN ARE FULL

OF DEAD PEOPLE’S BONES AND ALL

UNCLEANESSS. SO YOU OUTWARDLY

APPEAR RIGHTEOUS TO OTHERS,

BUT WITHIN ARE FULL OF

HYPOCRICY AND LAWLESSNESS

Trying to Be a Christian?

—Victor J. Reimer

Lydia Chorpening