The old programmers joke says that there are 10 kinds of people in this world, those who understand binary, and those who don’t. There are a lot of different ways to classify people, and many of them have their own equivalent statement that there are only two kinds of people, etc.
We classify people based upon whether they are male or female, which is the only gender distinction found in the Bible. We classify them based upon the color of their skin, a ridiculous distinction since the pigment that produces our skin color is the same in every person. We classify them based on whether they are rich or poor, another bad way to classify people, because a man can be rich today and poor tomorrow or vice versa.
Not one of these distinctions matter in the end.
This is because there really are only two kinds of people in the world. Those who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and those who do not. And that is the only distinction that matters in this life or the life to follow.
All men share one common characteristic. We are all descended from Adam. Adam was created by God, and God declared his creation “very good.” And then Adam decided to disobey God. In doing so, he became a sinner, and all of his children are born into sin. Since we are sinners, we too sin.
This sin is reflected in the myriad distinctions we make between ourselves. We all see ourselves as basically good, and other people as fundamentally evil. We make up distinctions to separate ourselves, but at the root of things we are all, each and every one of us, fundamentally evil.
You can see it in our politics. We no longer debate issues with one another, we talk past each other instead. We want to shout down and otherwise deny those who don’t think like we do their right to speak. We discredit others based upon meaningless distinctions, because we’re right and they’re wrong, and they shouldn’t even be here in a perfect world.
And we’re all wrong. God is right, and we are wrong. We judge God, and hate him because he doesn’t change with the times. His ways are outdated and don’t reflect our more enlightened understanding. He says “thou shalt not” and we say, not only will I, but I will celebrate any who do and condemn any who don’t.
We hate one another. We hate anyone who is the slightest bit different from us, and we hate ourselves too. The thoughts and intentions of mankind are evil from his youth. Nobody seeks God, because we all know better.
God saw this before we did, and he determined to do something about it. He destroyed all life from the surface of the earth with a flood. Some today, in their conceit and arrogance deny that this happened even while the evidence is in front of their eyes. Even after he had done this and mankind had been reduced to a mere eight souls, God said that mankind was evil from his youth.
Today, mankind still rejects God, even while subverting the very things God has given us to give us hope. The rainbow, a sign of God’s covenant with all life never again to destroy the world with a flood is now a symbol of rebellion and hatred against God, celebrating division (for my older readers, do you remember the Rainbow Coalition) and perversity (today’s symbol of homosexuality).
Jesus said that the thief comes but to steal, kill, and destroy. Today’s “woke” moral avengers in their self-righteous anger at all that they hate about God and truth are doing just that.
Protesting the death of a man at the hands of the police, an unjust act to be certain, they go out and loot stores that had nothing to do with the crime. In other words, they steal. Claiming to be righteous and better than the police, they commit murder in their so called police free autonomous zones, murder of their own people. Claiming to understand better than everyone else the evils of our past, they tear down and destroy not only monuments to those who committed evil acts in the past, but even those whom history could tell them served their cause better than they.
Why else would people protesting slavery and its evils tear down and destroy the statue of a former slave who spent his free life working for the abolition of slavery and the safe transport of slaves out of slave-holding states into free states where their slavery was turned into liberty?
We cower behind masks keeping our distance from one another. Whether out of fear of or concern for our neighbor makes no difference, we still do it. We cannot get close to one another, for fear and shame. We have destroyed ourselves for no gain, and we argue about whether Romans 13 applies or if we’re horrible people for being obedient to our government.
Where is God in all of this? He has never gone away. Mankind has turned from him. Mankind doesn’t trust him.
Solomon said that there was nothing new under the sun. And indeed, all of this reflects the same problem that mankind has always had. The symptoms may appear different, but history is repeating itself over and over again with every generation. We’ve had deadly pandemics before, worse than Coronavirus. We passed though them. We’ve had insurrection and rebellion before. We passed through them. We’ve made foolish choices and our governments have let us down before. We are still here, despite those who claim to lead us.
Every one of us, our leaders included are in the same boat. We all are evil, self-centered, cowardly men who want to rob, kill, and destroy to get our own way.
But God knew all of this would be before he even made the world. Before he laid its foundations he had a plan.
Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. The world rejected him, and yet he gave his life for the world. He gave his life for you and for me. He took the world’s sin upon his shoulders and took it to the grave. His sacrifice appeased God’s righteous wrath against us all. We don’t have to remain as we are, we can be born again, new creatures, partaking of the righteousness of Christ. His resurrection gives us hope and assurance that God will make us alive in him.
All we have to do is accept his kind offer of forgiveness and life through faith in his completed work on the Cross. True, saving faith in Jesus. That’s all that’s needed.
Don’t wait, trying to earn your way to forgiveness. Nothing we can do will ever repay God for the evil we have done.
Receive the free gift of God. Turn to him in faith, and obey his commandments. They aren’t that hard. What commandments?
- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.
- Love your neighbor as yourself.
If you Love God, you will keep his commandments. You won’t steal to appease your anger. You won’t seek to kill and destroy that which is different.
If you love your neighbor as yourself, you won’t want to see their destruction. You’ll share the good news with them. You’ll help them in their difficulties. You’ll pray for them even as they steal from you, try to kill you, and try to destroy your own memory. Because they too are men, made in God’s image.
Be reconciled to God before it’s too late. Trust in him. The rest will follow.