Core

At times the core is so bad one must start over.  In process improvement terms, there is only so much you can do with a bad process.  You can improve it, refine it, and even rebuild it, but “it” will always remain “bad”.  The reality is simply this; even if the process worked as efficiently and effectively as theoretically possible, the process would still produce results inferior to what could and is possible. 
 
Some think we, you and I, are “bad”.  The logic says that whatever anyone does to help, God included, it will eventually fail.  There is nothing redeemable, useable, or possible given the core.  Starting over is the only option. 
 
I acknowledge life often confirm this conclusion.  As I take stock, evaluating and reaching conclusions about the world around me, it’s easy to be cynical.  Life’s full of desperate characters!  No matter how many opportunities are given, resources provided, and efforts extended, bad things occur again and again.  Every community seems to have their share of incorrigibles.  The only solution is to give up, write them off, and move on. 
 
I’m not going to argue for unlimited, unconditional, and na?ve efforts for those uninterested in growing and change.  At the same time I would note that each, you and I included, carries the potential for evil, judgment, and self glorification.  The potential becomes real when we least expect it.  The potential manifests itself far more often than anyone cares to admit.  The potential is more normal than exceptional.  In short, we are what we criticize.  In this context the outcome of our efforts is predictable.  Even as we use discipline towards a better future, “if some should survive, say a tenth, the devastation will start up again.  The country will look like pine and oak forest with every tree cut down—every tree a stump, a huge field of stumps.  But there's a holy seed in those stumps.” (Isaiah 6.13) 
 
The difference at the core is simply this.  Are we welcoming the Spirit?  Are we reaching out to God?  Do we see what is?