Romans 3:13-14, Paul wants you to see exactly how deep this sickness of the heart truly goes, he takes you on a tour of the human body to show how sin has infected infected every single part of your nature. A tomb is a place of decay, death and terrible odors, Paul is saying, that the words that come out of your mouths, bring death to the people around you. The damage you do with your words every single day, you use your words to gossip about your co-works, you use your words to tear down your family members in moments of anger, you use your words to spread rumors, to lie to protect your own reputation and to flatter people just to get what you want.
Paul says, our tongues practice deceit. You do not just stumble into lying by accident, you are experts at it, you know exactly how to twist a story to make yourself look like the innocent victim, you know exactly how to leave out crucial details to manipulate a situation, you have the poison of deadly snakes hiding right under your lips. A snake bite injects venom that destroys the nervous system of its victim, in the same way, a bitter insult or a cruel joke injects emotional poison into the soul of another person. You smile to their faces, but your mouth are full of hidden bitterness and cursing.
Romans 3:15-18, you might think that you have never shed blood or murdered anyone, but Jesus taught that secretly hating someone in your heart is just as sinful as murder, you are incredibly quick to strike back when someone insults you, you’re extremely fast to seek revenge when you feel wronged, because of this endless cycle of anger and pride, human history is completely filled with destruction and misery. Look at the world around you, look at the endless wars, the broken marriages, the shattered friendships and the divided communities, you search everywhere for peace, but you simply do not know the way of peace.
Why is humanity so broken, why do you hurt each other so deeply? Paul gives the ultimate root cause in one simple sentence, there is no fear of God before their eyes. This is the core disease of the human soul, you do not stand in awe of your creator, you do not respect his absolute authority over your live. You live your daily live as if God does not exist or as if he does not care what you do, you make your own rules, you follow your own desires, you ignore the creator and worship the created things instead, every single one of us is infected with this disease of the heart.
Paul says, our tongues practice deceit. You do not just stumble into lying by accident, you are experts at it, you know exactly how to twist a story to make yourself look like the innocent victim, you know exactly how to leave out crucial details to manipulate a situation, you have the poison of deadly snakes hiding right under your lips. A snake bite injects venom that destroys the nervous system of its victim, in the same way, a bitter insult or a cruel joke injects emotional poison into the soul of another person. You smile to their faces, but your mouth are full of hidden bitterness and cursing.
Romans 3:15-18, you might think that you have never shed blood or murdered anyone, but Jesus taught that secretly hating someone in your heart is just as sinful as murder, you are incredibly quick to strike back when someone insults you, you’re extremely fast to seek revenge when you feel wronged, because of this endless cycle of anger and pride, human history is completely filled with destruction and misery. Look at the world around you, look at the endless wars, the broken marriages, the shattered friendships and the divided communities, you search everywhere for peace, but you simply do not know the way of peace.
Why is humanity so broken, why do you hurt each other so deeply? Paul gives the ultimate root cause in one simple sentence, there is no fear of God before their eyes. This is the core disease of the human soul, you do not stand in awe of your creator, you do not respect his absolute authority over your live. You live your daily live as if God does not exist or as if he does not care what you do, you make your own rules, you follow your own desires, you ignore the creator and worship the created things instead, every single one of us is infected with this disease of the heart.