The Sinful Nature Of Man Is To Care For Himself

Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. [Galatians 6.8] 

What is the sinful nature of man? It can be described in one word: self.

Living under the Law is living unto self.

Yes, the Law was given for a season to serve a purpose. No uncertain blessings were attached to keeping the Law. They are found in Deuteronomy 28.1-14. Those blessings were a 'band aid' of sorts for the selfish sin of mankind set in motion in the Garden of Eden. Those blessings were temporal however with only earthly benefits. Those blessings did not touch eternity or offer eternal life.

Just like the Law, and perhaps foretelling the outcome of the Law, God gave Israel a snake on a stick to look upon and be healed:

Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!” So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the LORD told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed! [Numbers 21.4-9]

The problem with the snake on a stick though was that the people began to worship it. Later, during Hezekiah's reign, the snake on a stick, originally given by God, had to be destroyed:

He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan. Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. [2 Kings 18.3-5]

So it was with the Law. When people selfishly internalize blessings from God, even the most profound of those blessings becomes an idol.

Every blessing from God is designed for one purpose and to one end: to bring us to Christ. If however we selfishly fixate on the blessing and not on Christ, that blessing becomes an idol. The Law given on Mount Sinai was the perfect example of this. The snake on a stick was the perfect example of this. And today, man's industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology are perfect examples of this.

Living to satisfy our own sinful nature is living to enjoy God's blessings without fully acknowledging and serving Him as the ONLY Bless-er. The ONLY way to prove undivided trust in Him then is to get rid of any source of blessings but Him. Jesus said it like this:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]

Jesus did not come to earth doing good and healing the sick as a "dispensation." He came as God's eternal solution to the idol-sin-problem of man. However, as close to Jesus as miracles were, are, and ever should be, if people pursue the miracles without pursuing Jesus, those miracles become an idol. We have seen both sides of this in the modern Church. Dispensationalists flock to blessings from finance, insurance, medicine and technology (saying they are from God, of course), and 'faith-people' flock to blessings "in Jesus' name" but also ultimately resort to finance, insurance, medicine and technology. All the while nobody is really getting miraculously healed (at least, very, very few are) and people, like Abraham, try to insist their alternate ways are God's Way (but they are not).

Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. “How could I become a father at the age of 100?” he thought. “And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?” So Abraham said to God, “May Ishmael live under your special blessing!” But God replied, “No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant. [Genesis 17.17-19]

The sinful nature of man always resorts to himself and his ways and is always self-preserving. There is ONLY ONE solution to this condition and His name if Jesus. And, there is ONLY ONE way to be "in Christ" and that is to give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow Him - the "pursuit of life" be damned:

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? [Matthew 16.25-26]

Today's idol industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology are all about hanging on to life. Just watch their TV commercials. Their appeal is exclusively to the selfish nature of man.

In contrast, God promises to care for those who make Him and His Kingdom their priority:

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. [Matthew 6.25-34] 

To be sure, the selfish nature of man has formulated all sorts of doctrines and theology to justify his idolatrous existence on the earth today. And, these self-justifying "doctrines and theology" indict the Church (the world has no need to justify its idols). 

The selfish sinful nature of man has all sorts of self-justifying explanations for every scripture referenced herein. The selfish nature of man will never take Matthew 16.24-26 literally. When it comes down to living or dying, the selfish nature of man always chooses to live - even if it means violating what they know Matthew 16.24-26 to mean... And then they say something brazenly arrogant: "God knows my heart..." as if that makes their idolatry okay - ignorantly unaware that that very phrase only further indicts them!

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? [Jeremiah 17.9]

The sinful nature of man is to care for himself. 

Father, human reasoning would argue that we can't really be that bad... But I don't trust my human reasoning because it comes from my human heart. May my trust be only in Your Word - in Jesus. And, may I be found giving up my own way, taking up my cross, and following Him. So be it.