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I watched a "Sermon Jam" with Paul Washer speaking on Total Depravity. He gave an example of a baby. If this baby reaches for a shiny watch on your wrist. As he grabs for it you say, "NO!" And this repeats. Then this baby begins reaching at you and flailing his arms. Washer's submission is that if this baby had the body had a body of an 18 year old, he would reach across and kill you and take the watch as he walks across your bloody body.

We are all evil, even from birth. His thought, was that you don't have to teach a child to lie, to be self-centered, to be selfish, or to be brutal to other children. We all know this from birth. Why am I the way I am? My wickedness comes from my desire to glorify myself in everything, and to do all of these things without the slightest thought of God. Through Adam, sin entered the world. But, the story doesn't end there.

In the words of Leonard Sweet, "We are enslaved to self & self-love, which makes gospel bad news before good news. The good news? Victory over slavery of self" Jesus Christ made it possible to not be enslaved to our own desires. We have a savior that is full of love and compassion that he was willing to take the fall for us.

As a just God, we deserve to die under his wrath. However, Jesus came to earth to live and die to take it all on himself. The good news? He is the Way for us to spend eternity with our God. How awesome is it that we have a Lord that was willing to humble himself more than we could ever even imagine doing, in order to take the sin and guild and shame to the cross with him and say, "It is finished."

So this is WHY I AM: because the one true God of this universe was willing to call me home, even in my most dark and dreadful days. He said, "It's paid for, through the blood of Jesus Christ."