Sin in its Essence

This is a devotional from Heart of the Matter by Paul David Tripp.

Sin in its essence is self-focused. Sin causes my heart to be ruled by personal desire and felt need. Sin makes me want to set my own rules for me and others. Sin will even cause me to co-opt the grace of God for the purposes of my own agenda. Sin makes me want to write my own story and to have God endorse it. Sin makes me demanding and impatient. Sin causes me to wrap both of my hands around my life and do anything I can to preserve it for my own purpose.

Christ, on the other hand, not only calls us to be willing participants in our own death, but he also lays out the logic behind his call. It is found in this one profound big kingdom principle: Try to save you life and you will lose it, but lose your life for Christ's sake and you will find it. To jealously hold on to my dream of what I want to accomplish, experience, and enjoy is to guarantee that I will never ever experience true life. Instead, I will experience the slow and progressive shrinking of my soul until there is no life left. Our life cannot be found outside of our relationship to the Lord. If I am seeking life outside of the One who is life, I am effectively committing spiritual suicide.