Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, July 15, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Plenty of folks believe that humans are inherently selfish and evil. The whole idea of “human nature” stems from the evolutionary concept of competition and survival of the fittest. This idea would give rise to the idea that any time there is a disaster, people will look first to their own interests at any cost.
But history itself tells a different story. People who look at this stuff have found that in times of disaster, people behave exactly the opposite of what we would think of as “human nature.” Altruism explodes. People come together to heal communities. The news doesn’t show it—it concentrates on sensationalizing the negative to generate ad revenue. But that’s what actually happens.
This is how God created us. In Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Of course as individuals we’re flawed. We all have to work against bad habits, the indoctrination of our white-straight-cisgender-male-supremacist society, and our often traumatic histories. But what a comfort to know that God created us to be better. To do better. It’s not some pie-in-the-sky ideal, but our destiny. How cool is that?
Do I believe in the idea of human nature? What is that nature? How does faith work with or against it?
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