Condemned

As I walked through a rough neighborhood, I passed several old houses that had the word condemned painted on them.

Condemned is a strong word, but it was acknowledged that the houses in question were so far gone that repairing them was considered a hopeless task. It wasn’t hard to imagine the houses as they looked when they were first built.

New housing developments are usually hopeful places. Designed for families, they very often ring with the sounds of children playing.

A new home is a place of promise as people look to the future and plan for what lies ahead. But now, these houses were condemned.

Workers had proudly built them, using all-new materials.

But over the years, they had been neglected, and they were now dilapidated —too far gone. There was nothing left to do but demolish them.

They were beyond hope. Leaving the houses standing would have been dangerous; reckless, even. Every newborn child is filled with possibility and promise. Within every child is the prospect of growing up to be a Martin Luther or a Martin Luther King Junior. A Marie Curie or a Sojourner Truth. Every child has the potential to change the world. Even more important, that child has the opportunity to know the God of heaven and reflect His character to the world. But people who don’t look after themselves become spiritually run down. Eventually, they become spiritually dilapidated, and in time so out of harmony with heaven’s plan for their lives that they do not possess everlasting life. Condemned! But the gospel is good news! Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” No matter how far gone a person might be, if they can take hold of Jesus, there is no condemnation —whether that is you, a child, your parents, family, or friends. God is in the business of remaking lives so that the condemned might instead live forever.