It's In Our Nature to Sin

"True repentance will entirely change you; the bias of your souls will be changed, then you will delight in God, in Christ, in His Law, and in His people."  - George Whitefield

Why is our world so rebellious? We have a natural tendency to sin. This means that it's in our nature to do so. What makes this even worse is not the fact that we rebel against one another, but that we rebel against God, too.

We are naturally rebellious against God. If  given a choice to follow God's will or our own, we tend to naturally want to do things our way. Our sinful ways are intrinsic to each of us. That's why parents spend so much time and energy teaching their children right from wrong, for example (Psalm 51:5). God certainly has His hands full!

That all of humanity is sinful shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone. The Bible points this out in Romans 8:3; Colossians 3:5; Romans 6:6. Some may be familiar with this as the doctrine of total depravity. The sad reality is we have all gone astray (Isaiah 53:6).

It wasn't always so. In the beginning, God created us in His image. Originally we were good and without sin (Genesis 1:27). What changed this? It was the disobedience of Adam and Eve, as mentioned in Genesis 3.

Their act of defiance and "rebellion" against God allowed sin to permeate their nature. From then on, Adam's sin nature was passed down through the generations; to all of humanity (Genesis 5:3). Sin also provided an open door for something else to enter our lives: death (Romans 5:12).

The consequences of the sin nature that we are focusing on today is our hostility, or opposition towards God and the plain ignorance of His truth (Romans 8:7-8). Jesus Christ is the only Person in history who did not possess a sin nature. He was spared Adam's curse due to His virgin birth. Jesus went on to live his life perfect and sinless (Acts 3:14; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 1:19).

Thanks to Christ we are born again. When we are born (of Adam) we receive his sin nature. The good news is that when we are "born again" in Christ, we inherit a brand new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). Does this mean that we are "sin-free" from that point on? Unfortunately, it doesn't.

Our old, ugly sin nature is still with us, and we will continue to wrestle with it the rest of our lives. However, we aren't without assistance in this fight. We have divine help from the Spirit of God. The Spirit lives inside the believer, providing the power to prevail over the urges of our sin nature (1 John 3:9).

Jesus satisfied God's anger toward sin through His death on the cross. His finished work also gave us victory over our sin nature (1 Peter 2:24). By His resurrection, Christ promises life to all who are enslaved by their debased flesh (Romans 6:11).

Scripture: Romans 3:23; Jeremiah 17:9; Galatians 5:17; Mark 7:23; John 8:34

Prayer: Lord, I acknowledge my sins. Lead me back to the way of holiness, and protect me now and always from the torment of sin. Amen

God loves you!

Janice