Is Your Head in the Sand?

So often, we see things like the Naval Yard shooting yesterday and we decry it's senseless violence, but remain blind to the causality.  We don't like the thought that people are evil.  Just like those whose philosophy was shattered with World War 1, we would rather believe that people are inherently good and getting better.  But, that's just burying our head in the sand....

If you've ever studied church history or theology, John Calvin is a name that crops up and is associated with a five letter acronym: T.U.L.I.P, with "T" standing for "total depravity."  Simply put, that means that people are inherently going to make choices that are not good.  It doesn't mean they cannot make good choices, it means they inherited a sin condition and will sin, a lot.  The evidence is there for anyone to see: 9/11, the massacre at Sandy Hook, the OKC bombing, murders every day of the year, child slavery, human trafficking, rape, abuse, and the list could go on and on.  For those of us who believe in Jesus, this should come as no surprise!  One of the major points Jesus made was that people are sick and needed a doctor- Him.  Paul is oft quoted in his letter to the Romans:

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...

 And that is the truth!  The writers of the New Testament were very clear: if we say we haven't sinned, God isn't in us because we cannot acknowledge the truth.  However, most churches seem to operate under the assumption that its people aren't sinners (or at least not as bad as those "fill in the denominational blank here").  Just think about the last batch of prayer requests given at your church: people are sick, people have cancer, people facing surgery, people grieving loss, people who need jobs, etc.  Rarely do you hear someone ask for prayer concerning their porn addiction or their compulsive lying or whatever sin issue they are entangled in!  Why?  Because we would rather live with our heads in the sand, fighting our sin issues by ourselves because the rest of our "sinless" church would castigate us, kick us out, or otherwise have a conniption fit if they knew what the real "us" was dealing with!

So, here's the thing: for the church to be authentic, it means we have to trust people enough to let them know the real us and have them trust us enough to let us know the real them.  That's a pretty tall order, but it's what they did in Acts (emphasis mine):

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.  The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all.  

Four things that marked a movement that changed the world, literally.  So, in our churches are we united in heart and mind?  Are we sharing everything we had with others in need?  Are we testifying powerfully to the resurrection of Jesus?  Because I believe where those things are being done, item four follows: God's great blessing was upon them all...

So, pull your head out of the sand.  Acknowledge who people are and know them for that- they are sinners in need of the Doctor (and no, not the Doctor as in Doctor Who).  We know the answer to their need, are we going to take it to them powerfully or sit back and remain comfortable in our "perfect" little settings?  People are dying everyday, many without a knowledge of who Jesus is or the chance to have heard His name or the chance to have seen him in us.  Shouldn't that be enough to make you get up, get out, and do what Jesus made you to do?  So go be Jesus where people are.  Talk about Him, live Him, breathe Him, and be Him to this world that so desperately needs Him, because you might be the only Jesus someone ever sees...