Nowadays, there are many self-help, new age and positive thinking gurus that would have you thinking that you create your own destiny. They tell us basically that we are the gods of our lives and we’re powerful in our own might. The truth is, as human beings, we live in a state of critical condition.
In the book of Revelation 3:17, the Bible sums up the human condition in addressing the Church in Laodicea: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
Diagnosis: Wretched
The definition of wretched is described as: (of a person) in a very unhappy or unfortunate state.
You don’t have to look far to see unhappy and unfortunate people in the world around us. From COVID-19 to natural disasters, from inequity to violence, from corruption to poverty, this world is filled with people in distress. There are a lot of smoke and mirrors that paint a different picture but, under the surface is another story being told.
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”—Romans 7:24
Jesus, thank God, has delivered us from our wretched state and gives us new life in Him. It’s when we choose Him as our Lord and Savior that it all changes because now, we have an advocate, counselor and friend to help us in our desperate state.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”—2 Corinthians 5:17
Unfortunately, being wretched wasn’t the only diagnosis: you also got a bad case of the miserables…
To be continued
