What is wrong with us, and why does it matter? A. Part III

Guntars Baikovs
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There is something deep within us: some deep and dark forces that we do not and cannot fully control.

Do we control our thoughts? We know that many are foolish, embarrassing, shameful, or purely evil. Did we choose them? Where did they come from?

Do we control our emotions? Think about the bouquet of emotions that we may experience among others: envy, hatred, anger. Do we like them? Where did they come from?

Do we control our desires? Lust, passions, cravings: they spring up in our hearts and minds and then we need to deal with them. We spend lifetime trying to master our control over them, and at the end of our lives we still fail.
But, we may wonder, if this is how bad things really are, how is it that there still are so many good people out there?

It’s easy to answer. Just think about the efforts that are poured in to teach us to behave in a good way: 
     [1] Our parents teach us to control ourselves when we are small. 
     [2] We all have our conscience, which speaks up when we want to do something wrong, or don’t want to do what we are supposed to. 
     [3] Society sets guidelines when we grow up. 
     [4] Law restrains us as adults. These work in a restrictive way. 
     [5] On the positive side, good behaviour is generally rewarded, praised, and opens many doors.

Thus, we have all those chains around our hearts to restrain what we carry inside, and we still often fail. Thus, our thoughts, desires and emotions may be kept locked in, but they are not gone. 
We need to understand that, Biblically speaking, sinfulness is our condition at the fundamental level.


This tragic condition manifests in so many ways in our daily life:
     [1] As ignorance about the true God and as wilful rejection of the true God. 
     [2] Not knowing who we are, how precious we are, and for what great responsibilities we are created.
     [3] As selfishness and self-centredness.
     [4] As foolishness, when we return to same harmful patterns of behaviour again and again.
     [5] As misplaced trust, hopes and expectations, when we expect to find fulfilment of our deep longings in the wrong places.
     [6] As misplaced loyalties and priorities.


Of course, all of these may also hurt our marriages.

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