The Futility of Human Effort

None of us are good because of our own efforts. Each of us is born with a sinful nature, and we turn to sin at a young age. We are powerless to fight against that sinful nature in our own power. Yes, we can decide to do certain things to "reform" our lives, but we are never changed at the core of who we are, and our actions are never fully righteous, until we are changed by the power of God that comes when we trust the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the basis for what Jeremiah told the people of Judah. (Jeremiah 13:23,24) We all need to hear this message.

None of us can change our skin color by our own efforts, just as a leopard can't change its spots. Yes, I know that by using chemical, we can darken or lighten our skin, but that is my point. It takes outside intervention and something we do not have within us. The same is true for doing good, and being righteous before God and people. We do not have what it takes to simply decide to do good. Satan, the world, and the flesh are too strong. We will always fail, until God changes us by placing His Spirit in us and rendering the sinful nature dead. Then, we can choose to do right, and we can do it by His power that He placed in us. That only comes by being born again by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, America is fooling itself, if we think that people will improve and our country will become moral again because of changed policies or laws. Those things have been enacted for the last 50 years. How is that working? It has failed. We must turn to the Lord fully, or He will blow us away like stubble driven by the wind. We will be gone and forgotten once He finishes His punishment of our sins.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Jeremiah 14-17.

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