the sinful nature.
in my journey to understand reformed theology the question of our sinful nature kept coming up in my mind. i know full well what James 1:13-15 says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown gives birth to death." temptation and sin does not come from God. the question kept raising in my heard, how does this fit in the theology of a sovereign God...a God centered life...a God that has total control over ALL things?
just like every one of you, i know my weaknesses and it seems there is one sin more than any other that i struggle with. if God has complete control why doesn't He take this from me? i have begged Him over and over again to rid my life of this filth and i keep coming back to it. does He allow me to struggle for a purpose? does He hold me in my filth to keep me humble?
if this were so, this would contradict every thing i know God to be...a God who HATES sin...a God who turned His sight from His Son because He became sin on our behalf on the cross...when Jesus prepared to go to the cross in the garden of gethsemane, with the knowledge of becoming sin (and its consequences...separation from God) brought Him to blood sweat tears. it does not make sense that God would keep us in our filth to teach us a lesson (though, for those who love God, all things work together for good...Romans 8:28).
the apostle Paul struggled through this in Romans 7:7-25. we are able to see his struggle of "understanding his own actions" (v. 15). he see two opposite worlds at war within him. good and evil, righteousness and sin (he also talks about this war in Colossians 2:13-15 and the victory we have). he continues and describes this battle within as "he does what he wants but (what he wants) is the very thing he hates" (v. 15). he then confesses that nothing good lives in him, in his flesh (his natural state without Christ). he says that he has the desire to do what's right but not the ability to carry it out (v. 18).
this is my struggle. i have the knowledge of what's right but i can not carry it out (in my own power). i do not have the ability to choose right (apart from the Holy Spirit of God).
in my own struggle and my knowledge of Scripture it seems to make perfect sense that the only ability i have within me...in my own power...is to choose sin. my flesh fights against (resist) the things of God. the Holy Spirit then brings me back to repentance. in a round about way...i can choose to sit in my filth because that is in my ability (in my fleshly state which is constantly at war with God)...but to choose God is outside our will.
Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
to choose righteousness is Christ (and not our choice at all)...to choose sin is the flesh. these two will war (even in our hearts) till Christ returns. But remember...we are not slaves to sin because we have power outside our strength (Romans 6:17-18).
your thoughts?
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4 comments:
If there was no sin to forgive, where would grace and mercy be? Why would Christ need to have died?
Although we don't know His perfect plan or why He created us the way He did, grace and mercy are two of the greatest gifts He gives us. And if we never fell short of His will, we would never need these. His love for us wouldn't be the same from our perspective because He would only be loving His perfect children.
Think about your kids. Isn't it wonderful to see them learn from their mistakes and become better kids? You don't want them to get hurt, but you also know that letting them make some decisions (bad ones included) makes them grow to be stronger.
@ SSU: I think I see what you are saying. I agree that it was God's ordained plan from the beginning that sin would enter into the world, suffering would occur, and bring a need for a Savior. I am not questioning sin. I was wrestling with the fact that I beg God to rid my life of a constant sin so that I may be found righteous ever day...to be used for His glory.
It's beginning to make since to me that God doesn't "allow" me to stay there...it's my own evil desires that take me there. My only freedom is to resist God.
I totally believe that "He created us the way He did" so we would need a savior. It's His perfect plan from the beginning that we would suffer in this life to need the cleansing of His Son.
I also agree that it's a beautiful and hard thing to see my kids go though things that will teach them BUT I don't think that is the role of sin in our lives. When our kids deliberately disobey or do what they know is "not right," I can not sit back let them learn on their own. It's the responsibility God has given me as the Dad and us as parents to mold our kids and punish them when they choose wrong. Sin is like that.
It's not a growing point...though we do grow through it...it breaks Dad's heart and He has to bring consequences to teach us righteousness.
I think you have to have faith and continue to believe that god gives you the strength to rise above the sinful things you struggle with. Dont ever dount that you can over come it. You can't control the things that enter into your mind but you can control how you act on them. We are all human and imperfect and yes god could take that away "ideally" however there has to be some reason for it, and I think sin and evil comes from the devil not god right? I don't know just my initial thoughts. At least if there has to be something positive to look at you could think that god is drawing you closer to him because you speak to him and struggle with this one type of sin. Very much like ssu said about your kids... he loves you nurtures you and forgives you when you mess up and next time when you learn from your mistakes and don't do it or do better... I bet he has a big smile on his face :)
As to why we sin today, I think it really depends on the sin and when it first was committed. The longer we take from the moment of salvation to ask God to take that sin from us, the hard it is for us to get passed it. We have let Satan use the sin for so long that it is harder to fight him back.
Our flesh and the world also are great hindrances for us. Those in the world don't see a lot of the things we do as sin, although we know they are. So, we easily commit those sins. And because we are in the world, it is easy to go along and do things without constantly thinking about God. We forget to ask for His guidance in the little things (like where to go to dinner). This lets Satan get a foothold and lead us off path...
Now, I am not sure where Scripture is to back this up, but it is what I am think about 15 minutes before bed... Hopefully it makes some sense!
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