Unfortunately, we often do not understand the treachery that lies in our heart. We sometimes think that we are pretty good people who 'mess up' once in a while. The biblical picture is just the opposite: we are all pretty bad people who do right only by the Grace of God. The Puritan writer John Owen reminds us of the danger within our own being. 'Since there is such a law of indwelling sin in Christians, then it is our duty to find it out, as if fire were in our home. Our earnestness for grace, our watchfulness, and our diligent obedience depends upon this discovery. UPON THIS ONE HINGESS THE WHOLE COURSE OF OUR LIVES WILL TURN. Ignorance of it breeds seselessness, carelessness, sloth, self-sufficiency, and pride -- all of which the Lord abhors. Eruptions into great, open, conscience-wasting, and scandalous sins are the result of a lack of due consideration of this basic law of indwelling sin.'
(Excerpt from CHANGED INTO HIS IMAGE, by Dr. Jim Berg, pp.26-27) |
