Better Than We Deserve

The world is crumbling away as planned. Seriously. What else might we expect? Decades ago, I asked my pastor about politics and politicians. Why are both so messed up? He replied, "We get better than we deserve." That was one of those answers I had to chew on for a while.

Nowadays we're suffering through the mid-term elections and as far as I can see we're going to get "better than we deserve" regardless of which way we vote. Sad, isn't it? The answer cuts both ways. Not only do we learn about bad politics and the candidates, but we also learn about the demerits of what we deserve.

I may have shared this before, but I'll mention it again briefly because we all need another coat of paint every now and then. I met with a group of about ten men on one of my trips to Russia. They were recovering from a lot of bad choices, just like we all do when we admit it. After sharing their stories, they asked me to share mine which was worlds away different from theirs. I told them I was raised in a Christian home where our family loved the Lord. We attended church every time the doors were open, and I had trusted Christ to save me as a young boy.

As I told the story all of them gazed at me with one of those stares. It wasn't a look. They were filled with incredibility. As I ended my story, one of the men said, "You didn't know you were a sinner!" Compared with them and their stories, I realized they were right! I hadn't gone through anything as harsh as they had. More importantly I realized I was more of a sinner than any of them.

Frankly up until then I'd never considered how bad I really was! That's sad. But the saddest thing is realizing each and every one of us is completely corrupt. But I digress.

Look around the world today and what do we see? Tens of thousands of young people dying every month in the Russia-Ukraine war! Monthly! The world is filled with people killing millions upon millions of other people every day. How corrupt is the human race? How stupid are we that we have to kill each other to settle our differences? Six thousand years after the creation, and this is the best we can do? Seriously? In the beginning only four people and one of us has to kill his brother? Sure, the price of gas and groceries is high like everything else! And, you're worried about affordability?

What are the issues we're voting for or against? Fraud? We all do that! We're so pious we can't define a woman! We're so high and mighty way above common folks who grovel with sinful pleasures. We're civilized and refined. No dirty jokes here.

How does it end? "And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great and to destroy those who destroy the earth." - Revelation 11:18

Lord have mercy on a sinner like me.