“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” -Jeremiah 17:9 (New Living Translation)
I am often amused at the thought of being asked what “race” I am. Whether filling out an application for identification or employment, we are confronted with this invasive question. A few years ago, I started answering this inquiry with the reply, “human.” After all, do we need many more differences to set us any more apart?
During the Lenten season, we are confronted with the notion that we are part of a unique race called humanity – this embodiment that holds us captive to doing that which is easy, wanting that which appeals most readily, asking for things which we think will fill the hole in our souls.
But alas, we discover that Adam sinned and we are all prone to sin until we allow the Holy Spirit to radically change our lives. God paints the picture for us and teaches us that the heart is deceitfully wicked. Who can know how bad it is?
In this Holy Week, will you join me in asking God to do something for us? As Jesus Christ poured himself out for our race, will you look at your heart and get in the most amazing race in history? It will be the best thing you ever do. Let’s do this together. Let’s move from a race of selfishness to that of a race which reflects God more accurately: self-giving love.
Prayer
Holy Creator, help us to learn from your record about what you want from us. Help us to live as your people as we are transformed in this amazing human race. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
CJ Caufield is the camp caretaker and lives in the Matt Warchol Memorial House on the grounds of the camp. Image via CreationSwap.
