Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Why is it that when we pray and pray we find that sin still lingers in us? In fact, when we become aware of the great controversy raging between Christ and Satan, we see how its roots are entwined in every cell of our being, as the prophet says: "From head to foot there is not a healthy spot on your body. You are covered with bruises and sores and open wounds. ... No medicine has been put on them" (Isa. 1:6, Good News Bible). Paul cries out, "O wretched man that I am!" "Evil is present in me, the one who wills to do good (Rom. 7:24, 21). Each of us is a microcosm of that "controversy."
Human beings are universally caught in a maelstrom of irresistible seduction that began as "war in heaven" (Rev. 12:7). A third of the angels joined Lucifer in rebellion, and now he claims that it's impossible for humans to break free from the steel tether of his master-diabolical invention--sexual sin. Even a U. S. president was brought to the brink of ruin by it.
What has made the human race Lucifer's prime exhibit to justify his invention of sin is the God-given capacity for procreation that He has entrusted to us. Sin has turned it into a monster of ruin: infidelity, divorce, broken homes, adultery. The lure seems irresistible. The gift of procreation that was intended for us to share the joy of our Lord has become an alienation from Him.
Is there "medicine" for us? asks Isaiah. Yes: love. But it's not the self-centered counterfeit--it's agape, what John says God is (1 John 4:8). No one is born with it--it must be imported and installed in the heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). It's the most glorious truth of divine revelation. And "Babylon" doesn't know it, for she is "fallen," seduced by the counterfeit.
Are you "hungry" for the genuine agape? If so, Jesus says you are "blessed" (Matt. 5:6). And that's Good News to start making you truly happy.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 14, 1998.
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