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Mitch Todd About Mitch

Bad People

"Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me." —Psalm 51:5

Okay, here's a stat that's hard to believe. In 1982, 1 in every 77 Americans was in jail, prison, or on probation or supervision. One in Seventy-Seven! That seems like an enormous number of people in trouble with the law, doesn't it?

But that was 27 years ago. Things have changed since then: Today it's 1 in 31 Americans who are in the system!!! According to a new Pew Center study, mentioned in a Reuters article this week, America has the highest rate of incarceration and the largest prison population in the world. Hmmm. Why aren't I chanting "We're number one! We're number one!"?

Why such a high rate? Maybe it's because we have such a highly efficient police force, rooting out crime. Maybe it's a judicial system keen to lock people up. Or maybe it's the people. Maybe we're all just bad people. After all, that 1 in 31 only accounts for the people that got caught!

Brrr. Gives me chills. It's enough to make you look over your shoulder as you walk to your car. It's enough to make you doubt the people you work with, go to school with, sit in the pews with. How many times a day are you looking into the eyes of somebody who's just plain bad?

Of course, that's just talking about "bad" in the eyes of the American legal system. In the eyes of God, it's another thing entirely. When we're talking about our faith, our obedience to God, chances are everybody's made bad mistakes somewhere along the way. That means you too.

I don't much like talking about how everybody's a sinner. I like to see the good in people. I like to acknowledge all the ways that we try to do good and be good. But let's face it... obedience does not always come easy to us. It's a struggle for just about everybody to do and say and think and believe in ways that line up with God's laws. Many of us are successful much of the time, but even the most pious are prone to fall now and then.

So does all this mean God thinks we're bad people? Is God going to lock us up and throw away the key? No. Remember the creation story? God created us and called us good. Flaws and all, God loves us. God forgives us when we fall. Remember Jesus? Jesus helps us to learn and grow and do better with our lives. In so many ways, God knows the good in us and helps us to overcome the bad.

If we let God work in us and around us, we can be molded and shaped into the kinds of people who live by faith — and who do what's right, both as Christians and as citizens. Our rehabilitated faith can help us rehabilitate our nation. That doesn't mean it's an easy thing to do. The road of sanctification can be very difficult, but oh so rewarding.

And after all, overcoming one's sinful ways can make for quite a hard time...

But it beats doing Hard Time.

Have A Great Week!

Mitch
rmitchelltodd@yahoo.com