I’ve been working through John Ortberg’s Everyone’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them, and in the chapter Unveiled Faces, something struck me deeply. He reminds us of the greatest problem that ever entered humanity—sin—and how we as humans deal with it often.
When Adam and Eve sinned, something in human nature broke. They hid from God, covering themselves with fig leaves. Fellowship was replaced with distance. Innocence was replaced with shame. From that day forward, humanity became bent inward, corrupted, and spiritually dead.
Theologians call it depravity—a readiness to harm others or let harm come to them, if only it secures our comfort, ego, or desires.
Depravity in Everyday Life
I don’t need to look far to see this in action. As a parent, I see it in my toddler who refuses to share his toys. His instinct isn’t, “Here, sister, take my favorite toy too, because it brings me joy to see you happy.” No, his instinct is to cling, to hold, to get his own way.
That’s depravity in miniature. It isn’t about dramatic wickedness—it’s about the natural bent of the human heart toward self. Left unchecked, that bent plays out in lust, pride, jealousy, strife, and even violence.
Why Are We Surprised?
Yet here’s what often amazes me. Christians sometimes point fingers at the world and act shocked by sin—whether in politics, culture, or entertainment. We cry out, “Look at them! Look how corrupt society has become!”
But why are we surprised? The world behaves like the world. Depravity naturally produces broken behavior. Jesus never stood outside Roman markets shaking His head in outrage at immorality. Instead, He reserved His strongest words for religious hypocrisy. In the synagogue He declared, “My house shall be a house of prayer.”
He knew that sinners will sin. What they need is not condemnation—but redemption.
Jesus and the Woman Caught in Adultery
Remember the woman caught in adultery (John 8)? She was dragged before Jesus while the religious leaders clutched stones, ready to condemn. But Jesus didn’t condemn her. He accepted her without approving her sin. He offered forgiveness and called her to transformation: “Go, and sin no more.”
This is the delicate balance we often miss. Acceptance is not approval. Nor is it toleration. It’s love. It’s looking at another person and saying, “I’m glad you exist. Your life has value.”
Jesus never confused love with indulgence. But He also never confused holiness with condemnation.
The Call to Radical Acceptance
Imagine if, instead of reaching for stones, we reached for grace. Imagine if we became known, not for what we’re against, but for the way we embody the radical acceptance of Jesus.
Acceptance doesn’t mean silence about sin. It doesn’t mean pretending all choices are harmless. But it does mean separating the value of the person from the destructiveness of their behavior. It means speaking truth with love, not stones.
As Gene Vanier once wrote, “To accept our weaknesses and those of others is not complacency—it is the beginning of healing.”
Living Beyond the Flesh
The Bible reminds us: “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).
Every day, we can slip back into the flesh—jealousy, strife, envy, pride. But we are no longer slaves to depravity. In Christ, we have a new nature. And with the Spirit, we can choose love over condemnation, compassion over contempt.
Put Down the Stones
So here’s the challenge: what if we became people who simply put down the stones?
What if we were known, not as finger-pointers, but as grace-givers? What if, in our homes, our workplaces, our communities, we lived out a radical acceptance that says, “You matter. You are loved. And because you are loved, I will also speak truth to you in love.”
That’s the way of Jesus. Not condemnation. Not superiority. But love that transforms.
Everyone’s normal till you get to know them. But everyone’s redeemable when they come to know Him.
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