//Sin: the Dictator of Our Lives// Hope: Through God//

As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

there is no one who understands,

no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”

**Romans 3:10-12**




 ~~~**~~~

   Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Chavez, Pol Pot...all men who are viewed as dictators of their countries; men who ruled with iron thumbs, not looking out for the best interest of their fellow country men. Many of these men's time in leadership are marked by the drastic extermination of people groups or innocent civilians. Ruled by greed, wealth, status, and power. Driven by the sin in their lives. 

   Like these morally corrupt rulers,we to would have the same heart and motives if not for Christ. For the unregenerate, God gives common grace. "The Bible consistently teaches what theologians have come to call “common grace,” a non-saving grace that is at work in the broader reaches of human cultural interaction. This gift of God’s grace to humanity in general demonstrates a desire on God’s part to bestow certain blessings on all human beings, believer and non-believer alike." (Tim Keller, What is Common Grace PDF) For those who have been called by name to be His, God shows us our corrupt and selfish hearts, brings us to repentance, covers us with His righteousness and places within us a heart that desires to live a moral life not for morality's sake but in order to Glorify Him, magnify His name, spread His gospel and one day live eternally in Heaven with Him.

"The doctrine of common grace helps us to acknowledge God’s goodness in all of creation and enables us to pursue mission with love in a fallen world." ~ Tim Keller

   Meditating on Romans 3:10-12 today, my life before Christ, I became so very thankful for God choosing to place me in a home that taught me His truths and raised me with a Christian world view. Am I saying that those who aren't raised in a Christian home aren't as privileged? By no means! Both have been equally shown the mercy of God in a fallen world, both have been changed in radical way. No matter whether if God called you out of a life of drugs, abuse, prostitution, gang life,  a non-religious morally good life or the opposite, a conservative, christian home where His gospel was taught and shown through example by your parents...God has called you out of darkness. It was Him who placed you in whatever life situation you grew up in; neither are far from His grasp of control or closer to it based on outward appearance. 

   As Romans 3:10-12 reminds us, no one, not the druggy or the innocent church goer are free from sin. It is the dictator of everyone's life, killing all good that we could produce on our own and hardening us to God's work. Apart from Christ, all are equally doomed to a terrible ending, Hell. My friend, do not take this lightly, Hell is a real place that is for all those who do not claim Christ as their savior and Lord. 

   But God....God shows mercy and forgiveness to the sin in our lives. He alone is able to wipe out the dictator, sin, that had taken residency in our hearts and sets up a new kingdom...one filled with hope, peace, security, and a desire to give Him unashamed glory for what He has done in our life.

  "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:4-10)

~Grace and Peace~