Between our small group, accountability groups, my local church, being a mom and crocheting like a mad-woman I have abandoned this old thing. But I found an amazing quote by J.C. Ryle while I was studying God's word on sin and the confession of it. In his book "Holiness" the first chapter is entirely dedicated to sin. As he discusses our "sin nature" he says this:
"The fairest babe who has entered life this year, and become the sunbeam of a family, is not, as it's mother perhaps fondly calls it, a little "angel," or a little "innocent," but a little "sinner." Alas! as it lies smiling and crowing in its cradle, that little creature carries in its heart the seeds of every kind of wickedness! Only watch it carefully, as it grows in stature and its mind develops, and you will soon detect in it an incessant tendency to that which is bad, and a backwardness to that which is good. You will see in it the buds and germs of deceit, evil temper, selfishness, self-will, obstinacy, greediness, envy, jealousy, passion, which if indulged and let alone, will shoot up with painful rapidity. Who taught the child these things? Where did he learn them? The Bible alone can answer these questions! Of all the foolish things that parents say about their children there is none worse than the common saying, "My son has a good heart at the bottom. He is not what he ought to be; but he has fallen into bad hands. Public schools are bad places. The tutors neglect the boys. Yet he has a good heart at the bottom." The truth, unhappily, is diametrically the other way. The first cause of all sin lies in the natural corruption of the boys own heart, and not in the school."
The truth is nobody has a good heart. No not one. All have gone astray. All do evil. As a lion craves meat, we crave sin. We naturally do not choose good. Human nature is to be inclined towards sin, it is the same with our children, even our babies. Intense, right? Consider these verses:
"The fairest babe who has entered life this year, and become the sunbeam of a family, is not, as it's mother perhaps fondly calls it, a little "angel," or a little "innocent," but a little "sinner." Alas! as it lies smiling and crowing in its cradle, that little creature carries in its heart the seeds of every kind of wickedness! Only watch it carefully, as it grows in stature and its mind develops, and you will soon detect in it an incessant tendency to that which is bad, and a backwardness to that which is good. You will see in it the buds and germs of deceit, evil temper, selfishness, self-will, obstinacy, greediness, envy, jealousy, passion, which if indulged and let alone, will shoot up with painful rapidity. Who taught the child these things? Where did he learn them? The Bible alone can answer these questions! Of all the foolish things that parents say about their children there is none worse than the common saying, "My son has a good heart at the bottom. He is not what he ought to be; but he has fallen into bad hands. Public schools are bad places. The tutors neglect the boys. Yet he has a good heart at the bottom." The truth, unhappily, is diametrically the other way. The first cause of all sin lies in the natural corruption of the boys own heart, and not in the school."
The truth is nobody has a good heart. No not one. All have gone astray. All do evil. As a lion craves meat, we crave sin. We naturally do not choose good. Human nature is to be inclined towards sin, it is the same with our children, even our babies. Intense, right? Consider these verses:
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" Jerimiah 17:9 (kinda throws that "Go with your guts!" "Just trust your heart" saying out the window, right?)
...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 2:3
"For FROM WITHIN, out of the HEART of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, covetint, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride foolishness. All these thing come from WITHIN and they defile a person." Mark 7: 21-23
(No one is to be blamed for our sin. It comes from within our hearts.)
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