Published: June 27, 2008 09:25 pm            

We can change those natural inclinations that lead us to sin

TERRE HAUTE — “Well that’s just the way I am.”

It’s a declaration we have all made about ourselves. We usually say it only when some less-than-admirable trait of ours has been exposed in all its ugliness. But what we really mean to say is, “Well, that’s just the way I am, and I can’t do a dadgummed thing about it, so if this is bothering you, that’s just too bad, you’re going to have to deal with it.” If we could get by with it, we would stomp our feet in childish anger, too.

Sometimes we couch “that’s just the way I am” in more acceptable ways. “I’m not a people person,” or “I can’t help it if I’m an extremely sensitive person,” or “I’m not a very strong person,” or “I can’t understand this version of the Bible, and the other versions don’t seem to be very religious, so I can’t read the Bible every day like other people can.”

These statements do have a ring of truth to them. We may be more content by ourselves than interacting with a group of people, but that’s not good if it causes us to stay away from church. We may be more sensitive than those around us and therefore we are sometimes embarrassed by our emotional responses to situations, but that’s not good if we are afraid to show emotion in our worship. We may not have the physical or spiritual endurance that others have, but that’s not good if we stop trying to grow stronger. We might not have the right Bible version in front of us, but that’s not good if we don’t find a Bible version that suits us.

We have natural inclinations, and we can’t fully eradicate them from our lives. We may fight against them, but we can never win. So, we stomp our foot and doom ourselves to staying the same, saying we can’t change.

Paul had this problem, too. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin,” (Romans 7:14-25).

In other words, Paul knew he was — all by himself — not very spiritual. In fact, he was full of sin. He couldn’t understand why if he decided to do one thing, he ended up doing another, something so full of evil he despised himself. He knew if he couldn’t decide for himself to do what was best, he needed God to rescue him from himself by sending Jesus Christ. Paul was grateful God sent Jesus, because he knew his nature was so full of sin, he needed to mentally defy his nature by focusing on God’s laws. It should sound very familiar to us, for it’s “just the way we are.”

The good news is, we can “change” those natural inclinations that lead us to sin. We can change from acting according to our natures to acting according to God’s laws. I don’t know about you, but I want to be changed from what I am to what I should be. I no longer want to be a wretched woman, stuck “just the way I am.” I want something more. I need something more.

I feel a change coming on. Do you?

Verna Davis may be reached at www.thejoylady.com.

        

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