Intrusions, Part One

Romans 3

If you question your depravity, check your attitude toward intrusions. Having a French origin, “intrude” emerges from two terms, meaning “to thrust in.” An intrusion, therefore, is someone or something that thrusts itself into our world without permission, without an invitation, and refuses to be ignored.

Like the constant needs and demands of a child. I watched a young mother in a waiting room just last week. She was pregnant and had a toddler, plus one in diapers in her arms. Was she busy! Yet with incredible patience, that mother hung in there. Her whole world is one gigantic intrusion, I thought. I sure hope she’s got a husband who understands . . . and helps her out!

I also wondered if that young mother realized that she was modeling an unforgettable display of Christ’s message. Remember His words in Matthew 18:1–6? He flatly declares that receiving children is tantamount to receiving Him. Obviously, He believes they are worth it all, no matter how many intrusions they cause.

Not all agree. A syndicated columnist based in Chicago mentioned one such person in an article. He tells of meeting a smartly dressed twenty-seven-year-old woman about to be married to a man who had a five-year-old son by a previous marriage. Her attitude toward the boy?

“If I had $10,000 I would have the boy killed . . . . I’ve asked around and $10,000 is about what it costs to hire someone to kill someone else.”

Thinking she might be trying to shock him with a sick joke, the columnist told her that her alleged humor was way off base.

“It’s not a joke,” she said. “I want him dead.”

When he asked her why she was saying those things, it boiled down to intrusions. “The boy disrupts my life.”

The columnist assumed that this was only a vicious fantasy. She really didn’t have $10,000, did she? “No,” she sighed, “I don’t have the $10,000.” But as she turned to leave, she added, “But I won’t always not have the $10,000!”

Can you imagine the treatment she will give that bright, busy five-year-old boy?

Intrusions prove what the Bible has taught for centuries. Depravity is a universal disease . . . because sin has “thrust itself in.”

Because sin “thrust itself in,” God sent His Son into the world.

Taken from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com

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Pastor Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word. He is the founding pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, but Chuck’s listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. As a leading programme in Christian broadcasting since 1979, Insight for Living airs around the world. Chuck’s leadership as president and now chancellor emeritus at Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation of men and women for ministry.

పాస్టర్ చార్లెస్ ఆర్. స్విండాల్ దేవుని వాక్యాన్ని నిర్దిష్టంగా, ఆచరణాత్మకంగా బోధించడానికి మరియు అన్వయించడానికి తన జీవితాన్ని అంకితం చేశారు. ఆయన టెక్సాస్‌లోని ఫ్రిస్కోలోని స్టోన్‌బ్రయర్ కమ్యూనిటీ చర్చి వ్యవస్థాపక కాపరియై ఉన్నారు, అయితే చక్ యొక్క శ్రోతలు స్థానిక సంఘ పరిధి దాటి వ్యాపించి ఉన్నారు. 1979 నుండి క్రైస్తవ ప్రసరణలో ప్రముఖ కార్యక్రమంగా, ఇన్‌సైట్ ఫర్ లివింగ్ ప్రపంచవ్యాప్తంగా ప్రసారమవుతోంది. డల్లాస్ థియోలాజికల్ సెమినరీకి ప్రెసిడెంటుగా, అలాగే ఇప్పుడు ఛాన్సిలర్ ఎమెరిటస్‌గా చక్ యొక్క నాయకత్వం క్రొత్త తరం స్త్రీపురుషులను పరిచర్య కొరకు సిద్ధపరచడంలో సహాయపడింది.