And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Ephesians 2:1-3 [ESV]
This weekend, Marianne and I attended the 2024 Biblical Counseling Conference at church. The main subject was “Life Enslaving Additictions”. It was such a great conference and we were given so much information and help in our desire to help others out of exactly what Paul calls out here in the beginning of Chapter 2 of Ephesians. The question that sometimes pops up in discussion is the doctrine of ‘Total Depravity’, meaning – that our situation before Christ is a 100% inability to ‘not sin’. This doesn’t mean that unbelievers don’t do good things, it just means that without being reborn, the ruler of our heart is not the One Who has the power to give us strength to choose rightly. Our hearts are inherently evil. Until the object of our worship becomes the Savior of our souls, we live in a state of ‘lostness’.
Every human being made in the image of God, worships. Yep, you heard that right…we are made to worship. Some worship money, some people worship themselves, and some worship creation. Until we direct our worship to God (the God of the Bible) alone and turnover the kingdom of our hearts to Him, our desires will always be toward the idols we worship. The deliberate choice of anything over the Creator, is in itself ‘Evil’. So, more simply put – until someone realizes their depraved situation and accepts the perfect gift of Salvation by turning their lives over to Christ, every single one of their choices is wrought with danger since they are blind without the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Application:
3 thoughts come to mind as I dwell on the Words of God through Paul.
- I can never forget from where I have been saved. I must daily preach the gospel to myself so that I am not tempted to feel above those who are in situations of life enslaving sin or other suffering induced through worship of fleshly desires. We are all equally evil in the sight of an Almighty Holy God.
- God is the Caller of souls. I cannot personally help anyone who is dealing with the bondage of sin in their lives. Only God has the ability to redeem them from their situation and make them ‘new’.
- I must not get so confident or proud to think that I don’t have to search my own heart minute by minute and listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice in my heart, and obey what I hear Him saying. Daily structured time in God’s word and a prayer life that cultivates my relationship with the Almighty God of the universe is required if I am to run well, the race set before me.
Today’s Psalm:
Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!
Psalms 33:1-3 [ESV]
Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.