Do you ever have those moments where, even though you’re a Christian, you still secretly enjoy having thoughts that you aren’t supposed to? Like seeing someone fail at something and silently smirking because you know you could do it better…or being happy to see someone who did something unfair to you have it come back to bite them? Of course, this happens to all of us, because its part of our sinful nature. Sometimes, we just enjoy being bad!
Even God’s people in the Old Testament suffered from this affliction. Jeremiah says of God’s people, “‘Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,'” says the Lord” (Jeremiah 6:15). That’s scary–God’s chosen people certainly weren’t living as He had called them to, and they were going to be facing God’s wrath because of it!
This is us, too. We don’t live as God has called us to; we cling to our sinful natures, and we, too, face God’s wrath. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we are made new. Through the waters of Holy Baptism, our sins are washed away. Jesus restores us to the precious image of God in which we were created. “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). Thanks be to God for sending Jesus Christ who cleanses us and makes us new!
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