WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

Mankind has a problem.  It isn't a matter of he or she or even they.  At its most basic premise, society struggles as a we proposition.  We are all in this together.

How can that be?  Don't you see, Terry, the culprits of neglect, of irresponsibility, or even of crime?  Yes, I see it very clearly.  But what I didn't see for the earlier decades of my life was that I was guilty of the very same traits as those of whom I desperately accused.  Why is it that we have such a knack of passing the guilt-buck to others...always?

Adam and Eve sent a tremor across all continents of deep and lasting magnitude.  An earthquake hit the center of mankind.  Sin broke us open to rebellion, pride, and blame.  This story-line is printed in bold black letters across our daily newspapers. Brokenness of calamity and shame sneaks in and out of our daily thread....usually with the tag that it was brought about by the negligence of somebody else.  And, of course, our next thoughts are that they should have known better.

As old as we are, why is it that we cannot curb our criticism of another when the Bible is very clear in saying that we are precisely like the ones who irritate, even disgust, us? Why is it that we can play the Adam-and-Eve card of pointing to others for failure with seldom a thought that we are exactly like those whom we freely accuse...guilty?

Do we take the dying of Jesus upon the Cross lightly?  Shall we assume that I am deserving; but they are not?  Or shall we, instead, praise God that He would choose to die for us when we behave in the same manner as the Garden family?  It seems the latter would be the call of God.

So how do we halt the charges we freely wish to level against others; it just seems to be a compelling wave of chatter as if we hadn't even given much thought to it?  It just pops out sort of natural like.  The how is answered in the who; well, really two whos; the first one being Jesus and the second one being self.  Jesus died for everyone because no one is exempt from terrible disorder; not one person. So Jesus (1) and we (2) are the two sources who answer the bell to halt the tirade of negative claims as to those who don't seem to do life the way we would like.

Since we are all in this together, we surely must note the hopeful potential to our earth-walk.  The very fabric of forgiving one another is set in motion for a reason.  We are both more honest and then more civil.  It isn't that we condone sin.  Hardly.  It's that we live aware of our own inventory that changes the world; even the church.  And wouldn't that be a breath of fresh air for all?