Surely human/sinful nature isn't that bad?

Sometimes I forget the mess we are in. Dinner turns out well, or Simon kicks a goal at soccer, or we have a fun Saturday night with friends.

Strange how insular I am. How inward-looking.

Then I see a woman who cannot breathe as she cries for her murdered son. And another who believes she can never recover from abandonment and loss. I read a prayer message about an under-thriving baby who probably has fetal alchohol syndrome. And...(insert your example here)

We are torn by our natural hostility to God. And nothing I do can protect me from the ugly possibility of this world. Nothing I do can make me pure, or holy, or wise or truly kind.

Paul carves it in rock here. He needs to shock us, so we stop trusting we can be good enough. We just can't. Human nature is hostile to God - it fights and resists him, it undermines him and lies about him. It struggles to even know what is right, and then forgets to do it.

That's my human nature, my heart - I struggle to know right. I often forget to do it. Sometimes I even decide not to do it. I didn't drink so much that my baby will struggle through life, but I am so enthralled with my own needs that my children have to shout for my attention, and my husband sometimes doubts that I care for him.

Listen to Romans 8:7-8. God, we need help.

For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Romans 8:9