Junk Mail - Hard to Believe

Just now I cleared my junk mail folder.  1258 items were in the folder, compiled over the last three days.

This is a very sad manifestation of the condition of sinful mankind.  It is not really anything new.  Deceivers and scammers have arisen in every age.  The Internet has made this easier for such minded people.  But it is not a new thing.

Even more disappointing is to examine oneself and to realize one’s own sinful desire to cheat and deceive.  It is present for each one of us.  We can turn a blind eye and lie to ourselves, telling ourselves that we are not like these other people.  But in is in our sinful nature.  It does manifest itself in our desires that we cannot suppress.  They appear, even though we may not want them to appear.

For the Christian is this constant battle, as St. Paul describes in Romans 7.  It is a genuine war that is waged between the two natures: the old sinful nature inherited from Adam; and the regenerated and sanctified nature inherited through Baptism.  Thanks be to God that the victory is already won in Christ Jesus the Lord.  He died in our place to set us free and rose again that His perfect and holy life would be imparted to us in the water comprehended in God’s command and connected with the Word and Promise.  Through Baptism God joins us together with Christ in this victory so that even in the midst of the daily struggle we have the everlasting hope of Life everlasting in God’s holy communion.

Thus, the junk mail serves as a blessed reminder of the gracious activity of the Lord in the lives of His saints.  We see the prevalence of sin in the world and we recognize our own need to be rescued from this wretched condition so that we are continually turned again to the gracious working of God through His means of grace.  There we encounter the mighty Judge who has elected from eternity to take our judgment Himself so that 1 John 1:8-9 can be proclaimed openly and honestly to us.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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