“As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. (Rom.3:10).
“In the ‘last days’—life between the resurrection and return of Jesus, people will only love themselves and their money” (pp 2Tim.3:2).
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isa.5:20).
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us Lord, have a lot of mercy on us—on all of us, Jesus. The longer I live, the more I realize that longing for the past is naïve and is never free from selective memory and self-interest. Assuming there ever was a “golden age” and “good ole days” is also qualified by our definition of “gold” and “good.”
I didn’t wake up cynical today; I’m just waking up to a lot of stuff that has always been true. Everybody equally needs Jesus, all of the time. Love of self and love of money permeate history, church history, every culture, and every heart. It’s not the only thing that’s true of us; but it is true of all of us.
To love “money” isn’t as simple as a love of cash and currency. It’s a love of power, control, comfort, pleasure—a love of not having to need you, of not having to depend on you for anything. It is the essence of self-love.
What seems to be “more new” now—scary new, is the way our world has blurred—make that, obliterated the line between good and evil, true and fake, bitter and sweet. I used to believe that was only true in countries and cultures “way over there.” The geography has changed. Now it’s “way over here.” This makes me sad and mad.
More than anything it makes me grateful for you and love you, Jesus. I crave your return. I abandon myself to you. Only you are righteous. Only by your righteousness are we saved. Only your righteous reign on earth and in our hearts will fully eradicate our love for self and love for money. Come, Lord Jesus, come. So Very Amen.
