Kill the spider

Geom Abraham *

The depravity of man and the brutal acts of violence seen or read in the global news events these days continues to bring deep feelings of horror, disgust and even hopelessness to us who are tuned to it.

And we try our best to fathom how man or communities could sink to such low levels when murdering innocents including children in the name of protection of religious faith or supposed “holy” causes. And we who watch or read these horrors speculate on the different reasons as to why such incidents keep happening.

Some take comfort that this is not happening in their area or place of comfort so why bother; but not thinking of it or not minding it doesn’t take away the fact of the bloodshed and grieving families; others who are pained by this wonder when such violence would come to our own communities or homes.

We can’t escape it friends – Life has no value in the eyes of those who seek to destroy and hurt or motivated to do so. And we need answers – how do we continue to live in a world which is debasing itself further and further even while it seems to be progressing to unimagined heights?

Social scientists, common man, secular and religious leaders - everyone has various reasons and “answers” to explain away these tragedies. But how much ever they try and offer seeming solutions, there is still a deep sense of confusion and helplessness these answers can’t quell.

Sure life goes on and we forget all this in a few days or when happy things occur to take our attention or even when a good movie is released but that still does not solve the problem or bring calm to us when we know it’s only a matter of time before tragedy strikes again.

All these answers or thoughts offered by “experts” point only to changing the circumstances, modifying the external or altering conditions through positive messages so that people will not be so violent and automatically people would be all loving to each other; Changing all that is ‘outside’ so to speak. If the circumstances were “different”, we mull, then, all this certainly wouldn’t have happened.

We wish, hope and continue to preach ideals but why do such tragedies still keep happening?? If all mankind had to do was change himself by looking deep into his “inherently good nature” to resolve these things, wouldn’t the world have been a much better place to live by now??? Wouldn’t these messages and aspirations of peace, goodness and love have brought some change by now? We keep cleaning the “cobwebs” both within and outside us but only to find it reappearing time after time.

Still we continue to see the terrible things we keep doing to our fellow beings – many of it unknown or unreported. Realization, emotions, consciences catch up and we end up cleaning the ever present cobwebs again and again. But why doesn’t anyone realize that as long as the “spider” lives, we will never be able to get rid of all this dirt and muck that disgusts us and the cobwebs keep coming back. The spider must die.

It is time to kill the spider.

The ”spider” is both the inherent and acquired sinful nature of all human beings which became ours ever since Adam, the first man created by God, disobeyed God and brought upon him and all who followed the curse of sin, death and disease.

We cannot deny that each one of us is a sinner and all our acts stem from this one truth. Mankind is a sinner and we need to be saved – not by knowledge or good education or positive reinforcement but by Someone Who is holy and able to satisfy that Holy and moral God’s requirement for the penalty of sin.

Few thousand years ago, Jesus Christ pointed to this the truth when he was questioned by the religious leaders and teachers (moral police in today’s language) on why his disciples ignored the tradition of ceremonial hand washing before taking food. He replied by saying it was not what went into the mouth that defiles a person but what came out.

And the words that come out of the mouth of any individual proceeds directly from the heart where all evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, lying exists. It is this that defiles us, our world and our existence.

It is this nature that must be destroyed and only Someone Who is inherently good and sinless would be able to accomplish this. And this cannot be done by a mere human being. Only God could and was able to! Such was His love for His own creation that He came down to earth taking the form of a human being to deliver mankind. This God-man was Jesus.

Jesus through His sacrificial death bought mankind true freedom from sin and its power thus killing the spider forever. By rising from the grave He gives mankind the chance to be fully restored in relationship with God and to be transformed with a new nature that is no longer controlled by sin.

This fantastic gift and news can be ours by accepting that we are sinners and by believing what Jesus has accomplished and accepting His perfect life for our sinful one. This is God’s free gift for you and me. He killed the spider once and for all.

This is the greatest news we will ever hear.:)

Jesus is the answer for all our questions and battles, if we are willing to pause and think. I pray your hearts would be open to question Him and invite Him to bring the change we long for so much.

May our hearts seek to understand why we need a Saviour and thank God for sending us Jesus Christ.