One little word

Several times in my life I've worked in the retail grocery business,and if there is one thing I hated it was inventory. You had to gothrough out the store counting and recording every single piece ofmerchandise. Talk about the most boring, humdrum, mind-numbing existenceon the face of the earth. When you got all done, you had one figure ofwhat the inventory was worth. All that work that could be reduced to asingle figure written in a very small space.

The Lord Jesus also did an inventory, but his was spiritual.After He finished, He revealed the contents of the human heart, and readwhat He found. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evilthoughts, adulteries, fornications, murder..." (Mark 7:21). It was not a pretty picture. All the parts of that heart could be reduced to asingle word--sinner! This is the load that each of us carries aroundevery day of our lives. No wonder we trip and fall into sin from time totime. No wonder we do the things we shouldn't and neglect the things weshould be doing. No wonder there was a great price to be paid for ourredemption. No wonder Paul wrote that he was "crucified with Christ"(Gal. 2:20) and "I die daily" (I Cor. 15:31).

(thanks again, Dr. Williamson, for this thought)