by Pastor Patrick Cho
Grace Life took a break for the winter holidays and is now up and running again. It has been tremendously encouraging to see all the people come out to Bible study on Thursday nights. I’m sure the midweek meeting is still difficult for some of our families, but having LKC meet on the same evening makes things much more manageable. It has also been a blessing to see the families getting more involved even in little ways like bringing refreshments or helping with nursery care. All these acts of service continue to strengthen the group and make for an enjoyable time.
We are still in the middle of our series entitled “What Do You Think?” It has been a helpful series exploring a simple but biblical theology of the mind. So far, hopefully the families haven’t been too discouraged as we have almost exclusively focused on the bad news. Through our first five lessons, we have studied the creation and fall of man, as well as the consequences of sin on the mind. The Bible teaches that as sinners we are of a depraved mind and that we are completely blind to spiritual truth. Without God, we are incapable of interpreting the world around us in the right way. Sin affects our minds so that we are even oblivious to this incapacity.
God speaks particularly through Apostle Paul in Romans 1 to describe sin’s impact on the human mind. Because of our sinful minds, we suppress the truth of God even though it stares us blatantly in the face (vv. 18-20). Sin has rendered our thinking futile and foolish even though we think ourselves to be wise (v. 21-22). Sin causes us to reject the true God of the universe and to worship other lesser things instead – most of all, I should say, ourselves (v. 23-25). Because of our sinful hearts, we would rather willingly believe a lie than accept the truth of God (v. 25). Because of our hateful, sinful minds toward God, we take what God intended for our good and completely violate it and rebel against it. For instance, in our rebellion against God, we pervert the order and natural relations He ordained for us in creation. Paul teaches that this is ultimately rooted in our inherent hatred toward God. We don’t trust that God is good, nor that His plans for us are good. Our sinful minds, thus, bring forth sinful actions (v. 26-32).
This isn’t a very pleasant or optimistic picture the Apostle paints of mankind. It certainly isn’t the popular message of contemporary culture that continues to insist upon our inherent worth and inner beauty. Instead, Paul describes the human heart as wicked, depraved, lost, and desperate. He exposes the human heart for what it truly is in the eyes of God. (Praise God for His grace to save, without which we would have no hope!).
In the coming weeks, we are going to examine how through the gospel, God shines a light in our hearts and causes our blind eyes to see. Because of what Christ did for us on the cross, our minds can be renewed, so that we can interpret God, the world, ourselves, and our circumstances rightly. It should be an eye-opening and helpful study filled with principles for practical application. Even though the bad news is depressingly bad, the good news that follows is gloriously good!