7 signs that your sinful nature controls you
Everyone lives under the influence and control of something or someone. The two biggest influencers of human beings are man’s sinful nature and God. You were born into this world with a sinful nature, (see Psalm 51:5) and it clearly began to manifest itself early in your life.
Do you have any idea how often your sinful nature has controlled various aspects of your life? For that matter, how would you even realize if you were living under the control of your sinful nature?
Here are seven signs that your sinful nature controls you.
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1. You spend much of your time thinking about how to gratify your sinful desires
“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires” (Romans 8:5).
2. You find yourself unable to obey the Lord and submit to His commands, and you even harbor some hidden anger at God
“The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s Law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).
3. You constantly choose to pursue sin rather than to follow Christ as Lord and Savior
“If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).
“The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8).
4. You claim to love God, but rather than loving people, you have a simmering hatred for others
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20).
5. Rather than relying upon Christ's death on the cross for salvation, you are trying to earn your way into Heaven by your deeds
“All who rely on observing the Law are under a curse” (Galatians 3:10).
“A man is not justified by observing the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16).
6. The Bible assigns sinful labels to your life due to your persistent and deliberate sins against God, and your lack of repentance
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
The Bible never uses such labels to describe believers, even when those believers still struggle with one or more of these sins. Scripture only uses sinful labels for those who continually pursue sin and do not repent of their wicked behavior.
7. You live for self rather than for Christ
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
The world teaches man how to build up self. Christ teaches His followers how to “die to self” and live for Christ (see Romans 6:11-14; Galatians 5:24; Ephesians 4:22-24). Christian discipleship involves a unique approach to life, and one that you only experience after being converted by God’s grace through faith in Christ. Believers in Jesus are saved, redeemed, born again, justified and forgiven (see John 3:1-8; Romans 5:1,9; Galatians 2:16; 3:10-11).
God’s Word instructs Christians: “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 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).
As you examine your life today, are you controlled by your sinful nature, or by the Holy Spirit? God’s Word declares that you “are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Romans 8:9-10).
If you are born again, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And Christ lives in you through your faith in the Savior. In addition, “You have been set free from sin and have become a slave to righteousness” (Romans 6:18).
Are you trusting in your own efforts for salvation, or in Christ alone and His sacrifice on the cross? “Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourself. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you — unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Are you sure that Heaven is your home? Are you relying upon the Gospel for salvation rather than the Law? If you are currently controlled by your sinful nature, God calls you to “repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15).
You will always be controlled by either your sinful nature, or by the Holy Spirit. The choice is yours.
Dan Delzell is the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska.
