history lessons

This year the children and I have studied the Renaissance. It has been an interesting road, full of art that has changed lives, the Reformation, palaces, cathedrals, people who have been varying mixes of good deeds and bad intentions. History is rich with the beauty and the ugliness of humanity.

I hear people say the world is headed for destruction. I hear them lament the evil that is growing, flames of hatred and injustice rising with each passing year….

Maybe it is. But I am not so convinced. I am too convinced of one thing when I read these stories of kings who slaughter for power, artists who fill themselves with empty and selfish living, Christians who kill Christians over church doctrine, and men and women who sell and purchase one another like animals.

The world has been full of evil for a long, long time because the world has been full of people for a long, long time.

The problem of evil starts not in the laws we make but in the heart of every man and woman that draws breath.

Human laws can regulate behavior, but they can’t legislate the human heart. The best government imaginable can’t change that ugly selfishness that rooted down inside us when we learned too much from a forbidden fruit and that is now a part of every human born.

But God had a plan. It’s right there in Hebrews 8:8-12:

“The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

Hearts changed, set free from evil; changed from the inside out.

Jesus is the answer to our greatest need for justice. Our only hope for the human heart is the gospel.

So today, as Boy 2 wept when we studied the Atlantic Slave Trade, and sobbed out, “It’s not fair! It’s not fair!”, I pointed him to the only thing that can prove justice is possible. No court can provide what is provided on the cross: resurrection. The cross is where death and ugliness turned to life and beauty.

I pointed to the life of John Newton, former slave-ship captain and author of Amazing Grace. I explained the greatness of a gospel that can turn a man from a cruel master into a humble servant. Then I told my sons that there were still slaves today, but that there is hope in Jesus.

We prayed He would set the captives free. I hope He does. I hope His light shines into both the hearts of the oppressed and the oppressors. I pray for justice this side of heaven. May God liberate our hearts so that we can liberate our nations.

Most nights I sing Amazing Grace to my boys. I think it will mean more to all of us after today. Thank God for His amazing grace.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When we’ve been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun.