Do you ever wonder why you do certain things? Are you ever surprised by what evil comes out of your heart at times? I am. There are days when I can truly see the fruit of God's grace in my life and the changes that he has and is making within my heart. But, there are still other days when I am utterly aware of my broken and ugly condition. It is also in these times that I am most thankful for God's grace. I believe that it is paramount to understand who we are at the core without God's grace. Only by understanding and accepting the truth about our condition can we fully appreciate the offer that God gives us through Christ and the power that he alone can give to change. Only then are we able to see that we are utterly dependent upon him to save.
The Bible tells me the unvarnished truth...I am totally depraved.
Sin has corrupted my mind, so that I do not think God's thoughts (Eph. 4:18)
Sin has corrupted my will, so that I do not desire God's desires (Rom. 6:16-17)
It has corrupted my emotions, so that I do not feel what God feels (Titus 3:3)
It has corrupted my body, so that I do not experience the health that God originally intended for me (Rom. 8:10)
It has corrupted my relationships with God and people, so that I am separated by sin (Col. 1:21)
Sin has corrupted my behavior, which includes pagan worship of created things rather than right worship of my creator, God (Rom. 1:18-31)
As a result of the above, I realize that the consequences of my sin are, not surprisingly, put forth in the starkest of terms. As a sinner, by nature....
I am evil continually (Gen 6:5) Impure (Prov. 20:9) Full of evil and madness (Eccl. 9:3) Wicked and estranged (Ps. 58:3) Going my own way (Isa. 53:6) Rebellious (Isa. 65:2) Among those who have loved the darkness (John 3:19) A slave to sin (John 8:34, Rom. 6:20) A child of the devil (John 8:43-44) Unrighteous, not understanding; not seeking God; a stiff-necked resister of the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51) Turned aside, worthless, not doing good, having a hard and impenitent heart (Rom. 2:4-6) Without fear of God (Rom. 3:10-18) Hostile to God (Rom. 8:7) Spiritually foolish (1Cor. 2:14) Spiritually dead and among the children of wrath (Eph. 2:1-3) Darkened; alienated; maked by ingorance and hardness of heart; callous and given up to perversion, greed and impurity of every sort (Eph. 4:17-19) Among the enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:18) Dead (Col. 2:13) Defiled and unbelieveng (Titus 1:15) Under the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19) Foolish, disobedient, led astray and among the slaved to various passion and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by other and hating one another (Titus 3:3)
The consequences of our own sinfulness are overwhelming.... and rightly so.... pointing us to Christ as our Savior and helping us to realize our need for his grace to save us from this condition. This is the brutal truth of who we are below the surface without Christ. Without his intervention we are naturally inclined to run away from God and disobey him.
In Mark Dricoll's book, Religion Saves, he says the following......
Today, the fact of my own sinfulness is one Christian truth that I do not struggle to believe. Only Christianity can explain both the sin that is in me and the sin that surrounds me, despite all the time, money, and energy the word exerts to remedy it, from soldiers fighting wars to counselors prescribing medications.
Therefore, my sin is not the hardest aspect of Christian truth to believe. What I sometimes find hard to believe is that God responds to me with pure grace. I receive not only undeserving grace, but also ill-deserving grace because I am a sinful rebel at war with God. This means that God would be gracious in doing good for strangers, but God goes even further and is gracious to even his enemies.
No comments:
Post a Comment