Hard Things of Faith

  “I am a good person" “People are inherently good” “But they have such a good heart”     These statements break my heart.    They break my heart because they are untrue. This is blatant false teaching that has been widely accepted both in the church and outside of the church.  We have cherry-picked scripture to support our belief that we are naturally good people.  I have had so many conversations about this as of late.  People get really worked up when I tell them I am not good.  They get even more worked up when I tell them that they are not good either. This is not to point a finger; it is to point them to scripture.   The very first thing I hear people say about this is: “I am a good person because I haven’t murdered anyone.     I am not a thief, and I haven’t committed adultery.”     People automatically go back to the 10 Commandments, whether we realize it or not, even those who don't follow Christ.    We go back there because ultimately, we believe that the commandment

  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all the things have become new.        A few months ago I woke up and before my feet even hit the floor, I was struggling with sinful thoughts.  I knew immediately that I need to go to the Lord in prayer and then get into scripture.  The Lord was faithful to meet me where I was and help me in my struggle.   Being so taken with the Lord’s willingness to meet me where I was that morning and help me, I shared this with a dear Sister-in Christ.  Her immediate response was “What do you mean you woke up with sinful thoughts.  You are a Christian, you shouldn’t struggle with sin like that.”  Then she recited the above scripture to me. I was definitely taken aback by her statement.    Now you must understand that this woman is a dear friend of mine who loves the Lord.  She had no idea that she was helping to perpetuate false teaching that has been used to cause great harm to many people.     The