“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.”
Ephesians 2:1-3 NLT
In today’s Americanized Christianity, many have sought to humanize the gospel by altering the story. They glorify the heart of men as a shining beacon of goodness that has been captured by the devil and just needs freeing. But Paul paints a very different picture. Human are wicked by default. If they are left without God’s divine intervention, they will destroy whoever they belong to and take those surrounding with it. Our hearts are inclined away from God. This is our default orientation. This fact is constantly contested by men’s ideologies because they don’t want to accept guilt. Thank God for his gospel which both acknowledges this truth, but also tells an even deeper secret about men. Though their hearts are defaulted to wicked, they were not created for that purpose. Their is a reason beyond our guilt that we can not accept our lack of value. This also means that if our creator has cause to love us. We are not innately evil. We are just evil by default. This can be fixed by Jesus, our creator. First we must confess and then move in the proper direction.
JOSH McGARY. COM 