“Hey, don’t blame me. I was born that way!” This famous excuse for bad behavior has a ring of truth to it, but it doesn’t carry any weight in the light of God’s truth and Holiness. Yes, we were born that way, that is, with a sinful nature.
It’s called “original sin” and it was handed down through the generations of people from every nation, every race and creed. It comes to us through Adam, who chose to break God’s law in the Garden of Eden. It’s human pride and arrogance. But we were born with it. We didn’t ask for it, but we got it just the same.
Adam’s fall causes original sin
Original sin brought on by Adam, exposes our moral corruption. Because of Adam’s fall, we are denied our original righteousness and with that comes a propensity to allow evil to enter our lives. That evil, is the root of all sin(disobedience to God).
The Apostle Paul described the sin of the flesh as lust, ignorance, blindness and at the heart of our alienation from God. We are born with original sin, which is like the proverbial monkey on our back, but Jesus Christ offers the way out of that sin. Again, Paul explains it well.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Romans 6:11-14)
We all know right from wrong
Unrepentant sin is a killer. That newborn baby comes into this world with original sin, but the child is not accountable for that sin. God will not judge and punish a baby.
Children at various ages, will come to the age of accountability. They will know what sin is and the consequences of it. They learn to take responsibility for their own actions.
God is just. That means that He is perfect and will not make mistakes. His love for us renders countless chances to make things right with Him.
Woe to those whose hardened hearts will not tolerate the grace of God. They deny the sin in their lives, or worse yet, embrace their bad behavior in a defiant stand against God.
Most things we cannot control
There are so many things in life we have no control over. Did we chose our parents or when and where we are born? How long will we live? Do we get to chose our race, or our gender, or how tall we are?
When we begin to make our own choices, against the will of God, who made us what we are, it leads to separation from the one who loves us the most. Our sin nature, that original sin, kicks in and we cause our own misery.
We didn’t ask to be sinful creatures. Yes, we were born that way. Live with it and learn how to accept God’s mercy and grace.