A Candid View

“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” –Romans 6:22

A plant is the seed, and the seed is the plant.  This is the way God created it.  When you plant an apple seed, it will grow an apple tree; which will yield apples.  This fruit will not be oranges or watermelon, but apples.  Why?  Because the plant is the seed and the seed is the plant.  People are the same way, the seed that is planted in our heart is who we are.  If we have the seed of sin within, then by and by we will do sinful things; and we will be defined by those things.  If we are made free from sin, and have the holiness of God within, then we will do Godly things; and we will be defined by those things.  Our desires, drive our choices, which turn into our actions; that in turn, reflects our desires.  We are what is within.  Granted, people are complicated beings, so intelligence, environment, and various other factors can curtail this truth, but ultimately, when you take a candid view of yourself, it stands: We are what is within.

The bad news is that we are born in sin and shapen in iniquity.  You can reject the Bible and it’s teaches if you please, but any reasonable man or women must agree that people are not born into this world with a desire to be righteous.  They have the inbred inclination to steal, cheat, lie, and do things that are not right.  The sooner we as individuals accept that the Bible is true, and Jesus is the Son of God, and he is the answer to the sin that reigns within man’s heart; the better off we all will be.  The seed that is in us when we come into this world is sin, and by and by it begins to bear fruit.  We desire things that are ungodly, unholy, and unrighteous; that desire drives our choices, which in turn shows itself in our actions.  The grace of God works with us via our conscience, and conviction, trying to show that we are going the wrong way.  That we have a seed of sin within our hearts and it is the cancer that plagues our life.  Sin will destroy your life, and it will destroy your soul.  The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Chirst our Lord.  The devil would mask, and overlay the issue of sin with self-justification, there have been a many a people who have died and gone to hell because they thought they were “basically, a good person.”  One might say: “so I get drunk now and again, or slip up and lie, or had a little one night stand, I am still a good person, basically.”  If you have sin reigning within and that is the seed that is sown; you are not a good person.  Nobody, who is born into this world is a good person, and when the Spirit of conviction falls upon you showing you the holiness of God, and the judgment of God, and the love of Christ; calling you to be made free from sin, you realize that you are not a good person and that you are lost and need a Savior.  That is the bad news, which is, you are lost and need a Savior; and it is also the good news.  I is the good news because there is a Savior, and since you realize you’re lost you can be saved!  There is a way out of sin!  Yes, you can be made free from sin.  The power of God through Jesus Christ can clean you up and purge out the inbred sin that is sown within.  It can take out the seed of sin, and plant within you the seed of holiness.  When you yield your all over to God, when you give your heart to him, and say Lord “have thine own way.”  He can clean you up, and clean you out.  He can put holiness within so that there will be holiness without.  In doing so make you free from sin.  You no longer have sin reigning within, but you have God within, and your desires which were once unrighteous are now righteous.  This seed of holiness yields fruit that is holy.  If you are a drunk then you stop drinking, if you are a thief then you stop stealing, and if you’re a liar than you stop lying.  Jesus Christ is a Savior who saves from sin!

Now, holiness is not a magic bean; that just grows and grows once it’s planted.  As any other seed on this Earth, it needs to be watered, and weeded, and tended to on a daily basis.  You have to read, prayer, fellowship with believers and witness to others the glorious experience that you have been gifted.  The devil is still out there and the storms of life are still brewing, but you have the power within to defeat him and you can bear fruit unto holiness; unto the holiness that God planted within.  In this you glorify Him, and there is no greater calling in life.