Human Beings Are A Complicated Mixture

   How many times have we seen people who have good qualities end up in trouble with something? Take the man who pastors a church and believes in God's holiness. He holds to a high standard of human being living as acceptable to God. Yet, this man ends up in prison on child molestation charges. Or look at the man who sincerely loves God and teaches the Bible accurately. He seems to have a passion for making God's name known in truth. Yet he ends up leaving the ministry, a very bitter man because of disagreements with others leading the ministry. He ends up in a ball of bitterness which becomes the foundation of all that he does from now on. Then there's the mom out there that wanted children but couldn't have them. She finally gets pregnant, and gives birth to a beautiful child which she ends up killing a couple of years later because she couldn't control her anger. Things like this happen every day and we always ask, 'Why?'
   Why did the man who served under Hitler, have a family he loved and took care of? These questions can really throw us off. We are black and white people. Either something is completely one way or completely another way. But the composition of human beings is different. It is not that way with human beings and there is a good reason for that.
  We hear from family members concerning a child or brother who has been found guilty of a brutal murder, and what do they usually say? It is something like this, "My brother would never do something like that." We might hear, "He wouldn't hurt a fly." We seem to be taken by surprise. Yet, there is an answer to this mystery.
   When God first created human beings, He made them in His image. That means there will be certain characteristics that will mirror what God is like. One of them is creativity. Another would be having dominion. In the case of human beings, man was to have dominion over animals and other parts of God's creation. All human beings have a natural love. But even this love can be suppressed. We can make decisions. We can build things. We can do a lot of other things because of being created in God's image. But something really drastic happened to make all this unclear to us today. After God created man in His image, He gave man everything that grew from the Garden for food. But there was one tree in particular, out of all the trees that God created, that God did not give permission for man to eat from. If man were to eat from it, he would die. This was spiritual death, but it also brought about physical death. Man disobeyed, and God pronounced a curse on mankind, as well as on the earth and on the devil. Not too long after this, man found himself involved in wars, murders, and all kinds of difficulties were on the horizon for mankind. Now the dilemma begins. People who were created in God's image, now have sinful hearts. No wonder Paul expresses grief at this struggle in Romans 7. We are now born in sin, yet we still are in the image of God. How interesting. How mysterious. This is why we have a hard time understand people. This is why we have a hard time understanding the Gospel. It would seem to us that if we are created in God's image, then basically we are good people. But if we really took a good look at our hearts, and if we could remember every evil thought or intention we had during the week, we might have a different understanding of ourselves. Can people who are created in God's image really be sinful? Yes! That is what happened to us. God created us perfect and in His image. Adam sinned by disobeying God and plunged the whole human race into sin. The image of God in human beings, although blurred, is still there.
   But understand that by being created in God's image does not mean we automatically go to heaven when we die. God must punish sin, all sin, every sin we commit has to be punished, even though we are created in God's image. That doesn't cancel our sinful hearts. God punished our sins when He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth 2,000 years ago. He died in our place. He carried our sins on Himself and took the punishment for us. But that doesn't automatically get us off the hook. We have to turn from our sins and repent, and trust in Jesus as our Savior. Then He becomes our Lord as we live out our lives for His glory. See also http://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com for more information on that.
  So we are a complicated mixture. But God has a plan. When we are born again, we receive a new heart. We still have the capacity to sin, but our new heart can't sin and hates sin. We experience the turmoil that Paul did as he expressed in Romans 7. He asks a question; "Who will deliver me from this body of death?". He answers the question right after that one; "But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!".
  So the next time you are dealing with a loved one or friend, and you can't figure them out, remember that they are complicated. He or she is created in God's image, yet he or she has a sinful nature, which blurs the image of God and affects his or her whole being. God wants us to love one another, and be patient with one another. He wants us to speak the truth in love. Don't think that you friend is hopeless. God is at work and promises that once He begins a work, He will complete it. That is what we aim for. We watch God begin good works in the lives of people. Then we patiently, lovingly walk with them as they grow in discipleship.