A Vessel Unto Honour

Question: Since I am born with a sinful nature, I cannot be anything else. So why am I held responsible for that?

Answer: First of all, you are not responsible for being born with a sin nature. You’re merely given evidence that something happened before you got here that put you in the position that you are in. Much the same way that you would find a child outside playing in the dirt and say ‘you’re dirty, you need to come inside and get cleaned up.’ The child’s not responsible for being dirty, but they do need to understand that they are dirty and that they need to be cleaned up.

Question: I can be sorry that I am this way and wish I were a better person (and I do), but how can I be sorry to God who allowed me to be born as I am?

Answer: God is not expecting you to be sorry. In much the same way that the mother does not expect the child to be sorry that he is dirty, she merely wants him to come inside and get cleaned up because she wants to embrace her child and not get dirty herself because it is about fellowship. Our Father is seeking the relationship that He lost with us as a result of what was done.

Question: Since I am a creation of God, why must I seek forgiveness for being how I was created?

Answer: In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” And in Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
In Genesis 3:13 the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Genesis 3:23-24 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The first thing you notice here is we were created and we were good. The sin entered as a result of us stepping outside of God’s grace and this was done before we got here by our predecessors, so we are literally born out in the dirt (i.e. born with a sinful nature). Now the Father looks outside, sees us in the dirt, wants us to come back in, but does not want the dirt in the house, so He offers us a way back. So in essence, you’re not seeking forgiveness as much as you are just seeking the Father. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Forgiveness in this sense could be likened to getting cleaned up. The Father’s heart is to clean you up, so merely seeking Him out is the way to get cleaned up. If the child resists his mother trying to get into the house, that is the child’s sin. The dirt is easily removed, but the obstinance is not. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. The obstinance (or the willfulness rather) is what caused our predecessors to disobey in the first place. They wanted their own thing. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is to reject God’s way back in (to know there is a way and to say “no I’m all set.”)

In summary, you have to see that God, like the loving parent, wants to bring the child in the house, clean him up and love on him, thereby restoring a proper relationship. You have to see God as a loving parent who wants you to be with Him, and He is willing to clean you up and you’ve got to understand that you’re dirty and He doesn’t want dirt in His house, but He does want you.