PHILIPPIANS 1:19-26 – “for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.”
THEME OF THE DAY: THE DNA OF SIN. What is the essence of sin? We might respond, “Disobedience to God.” That is true. Or perhaps, “Breaking God’s law” and that too would be right. Still yet, another correct answer is “fallen short of the glory of God.” But there is one characteristic of sin that is the root cause of all acts of sin. Paul David Tripp identifies it with this statement, “The DNA of sin is selfishness.”
Selfishness is what led Adam and Eve into sin in the Garden of Eden. How so? They put their desires ahead of God’s commands and will. They also chose to feed their flesh instead of guard their relationship with God. The result was catastrophic. Every human being born since inherited a selfish nature, not partially, but totally. Now we may think defensively along the lines like, “I admit I can be selfish, but I do think of others, I do serve others.” What that reveals is our failure to understand the depth of depravity. The sin in the Garden of Eden did not bring partial spiritual death. It was total. Everything about us suffered; our mind, emotions, nature, and will. We must dismiss any thought that we do some good in life or have some part of us that is good or unselfish. The Apostle Paul destroys such thoughts in his letter to the Romans . . .
“What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one”” (Romans 3:9-12).
Outside of God making us alive in Christ, in God’s eyes, we cannot do any selfless or good acts. He calls everything we do “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Yet, our DNA is changed when we are born again. We are able to live for others; to serve selflessly, and to put the interests of others ahead of our own. Such a life becomes the Christian life. Go back to today’s scripture and notice who and what directed Paul’s life. It was to live for Christ and the interests of others. And that is the transformation that occurs in every true believer. There is a passion and pursuit of daily dying to self to live the joy-filled life of selflessness, not the miserable life of selfishness.
PRAYER: Father, help me to see the essence of sin is selfishness; a placing of self-love above loving You and others.
REFLECTION: We only truly experience life as God intends when we realize we are not our own and do not live for ourselves.