We are all sinners
CH Spurgeon – The holier the Christian becomes, the more readily he perceives his imperfections and the wickedness of his sins, and sin, instead of becoming more bearable to a Christian, becomes growingly more and more intolerable.
Mankind is NOT inherently good; mankind is inherently evil. That is a painful statement to make, but it is a necessary statement to understand for Christianity is built upon it. If we seem to think that we are really good at heart, why would Christ come and die on the cross? If Christ died on the cross to save us from sin, was he only dying to save some of us? The closer you draw to Christ, the deeper your understanding of sin; the more painfully you begin to understand your sin-state; but also how much more you rejoice at the Atonement of it by your Savior.
Oswald Chambers devotional yesterday digs deep into this.
This is a reprint of My Utmost for His Highest:
Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin
This is your hour, and the power of darkness —Luke 22:53
Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.
Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.
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