Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
Jesus told everybody they were evil. So did Paul. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus even told his disciples that they were evil (Mt. 7:11). The difference between his disciples and his enemies was that his disciples believed him and humbled themselves before him to be cleansed and healed. Those who did not heed his warning of the evil of their natures are in hell today.
You are evil. You cannot trust yourself because you will lie to yourself and be damned (2Thess. 2:11-12). You cannot love yourself because if you do, you will abuse that love and be lost forever (Jn. 12:25). You are so evil that the safest thing for you to do is to hate yourself (Lk. 14:26). You are so evil that for you to be dead is a wonderful thing (Col. 3:3). Paul hated his own life in this world so much that he died every day. He wrote to the Corinthians, “I die daily”, and I am sure he recommended that they do the same. We know he told the saints in Philippi, and in Thessalonica, and in Corinth to follow him, and if he died every day, then he could only have been telling those saints to hate their own lives and die as he did.
If you understand the depth of evil that is in the human heart, you will cry out to God for mercy. Such understanding is so painful that it makes us cry out to God for help. If after all that the Bible and your own experiences in life have taught you, you still do not understand the depth of evil that is in the human heart, it is only because . . . well, only because you are evil.