man...saint and sinner

Have you ever wondered how we humans have such a great capacity for both harm and good at the same time? Humanity has these two very opposite and contradictory characteristics. This is not only addressed in the Bible but observable in human behavior (ourselves and others) now and throughout history.

Among humanity, we have observed, appreciated, and enjoyed the Michel Angelo's, Leonardo da Vinci's, Mother Teresa's, and Johann Sebastian Bach's of the world while at the same time being appalled at the ¹Stalin's, Hitler's, and Mao Zedong's of the world. We have observed man expressing the greatest beauty and kindness, while at the same time the greatest cruelty and destruction. How can such a great capacity for good and evil reside within the same being?

Humanity was designed to enjoy the greatest bliss possible through a relationship with the most blissful, magnificent, and ultimate being in the universe. But we seek to be our own god. In effect, this is to reject a relationship with this glorious being since He alone is God. We have cut ourselves off from the very source of life, love, purpose, and meaning. As a result, humanity no longer functions as God designed and intended.

Now we seek to fill the void that resulted from this disconnect by anything within our grasp, be it our natural gifts, power, wealth, fame, or pleasure …²fill in the blank. Mankind has an endless and insatiable need to feel significant, important, valuable, worthwhile ... loved. God ³created us this way. Not with a void -- that was our doing -- but with the capacity and desire to participate in the one who is infinite love, wisdom, majesty, and beauty.

When you combine

*great skill, ability, and talent -- all aspects of our being in God's image

 
*and great resources -- i.e. the incredible world with everything in it that God made, including other image-bearers with great ability and similar resources

 
*with the great void of God's absence, you have a formula for the greatest potential destruction.

The greater the vacuum in us for life, the greater the energy needed and exerted to fill it. And what would create a greater void than the absence of the very Source of infinite life, love, and all things?

Some seek to fill this by exerting power and control over others and some with power and control over the creation in general.

When men and women, however, are connected to the Source of life, love, meaning, and purpose, their God-given creativity and abilities are engaged and shine forth for great good, beauty, and joy. In short, they become conduits of the goodness and love of God, instead of emotional and spiritual black holes sucking in and destroying everything in their path.

They become fountains for good because they are filled with the good of the Creator or they become agents of evil to fill the infinite void of God's absence, the unending and inexhaustible source of life.

For a further discussion of what we are created for click here. 

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¹Number killed under the following according to http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/182h4jpdfjpaijpg/original.jpg

Stalin - 23 million
Hitler - 17 million
Mao - 78 million

²Man even uses attempts at "obedience" to win God's favor in order to feel significant and accepted by him. This is true of any religious system, be that so-called Christianity, Islam, or anything else.

I say so-called because true Christianity is CHRISTianity. It is about Christ's efforts on our behalf, not our efforts to win the favor of God and others. It's about knowing God's bottomless love for us, secured by Christ's efforts, and driven by His infinite love.

³God is the only endless and infinite source of love, life, beauty, joy, etc. For us to participate and enjoy him as he is, required us to have a capacity equal to God's infinite fullness, or at least as great a capacity as possible without us actually being God ourselves. Imagine how great a void there must be to have such a infinite capacity and be absent that which it was created to be filled with.