Friday, May 05, 2006

Greater Sense of Personal Depravity?

Someone asked me a good question today.
"Does the Bible teach that a Christian's awareness of his depravity will increase throughout his Christian life in direct proportion to his view of God being more biblically informed?"
Thoughts?

2 comments:

Aaron said...

I'm not sure who originated the saying, but many have well said "The more holy we become, the more sinful we become." That is, the closer to Christ we grow, the more we see our own sinfulness.
Or...the more light we have, the more flaws we see.
I see this as a bittersweet encouragement for the believer. Bitter is the sin, sweet is the progressive sanctification.

Perhaps Isaiah said it best:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. [i.e., biblically informed view of God]
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”[i.e., increased awareness of depravity]
Isaiah 6:1-5


Maybe a second question is...
"Is my increasing sinful awareness evidence of sanctification in process, or in want?"

I'll wait for someone to say the answer is "Yes." :o)

Shaun said...

No answers here, just a related question. Does the increasing awareness of depravity necessarily result in more guilt or does it, in a growing Christian, manifest itself in greater appreciation of and praise for God's grace?