A little boy called his little sister a bad name. Then he hit her with a broomstick and spit on her. The mother said to the naughty child, “You shouldn’t have done that.” And the little boy said, “The devil made me call her a bad name. The devil made me hit her with a broomstick. But spitting on her was my idea.”
I think we would be surprised how much of our sin is our idea. It comes from that old Adamic nature that has a predisposition to sin. Galatians 5:17 says, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
Paul is saying that you and I have an inclination to do evil. So many times, we want to say the devil made us sin. The devil can’t make us sin. If the devil could make us sin, we would have a perfect alibi. Sin is an inside job; it comes from our flesh. The devil helps you to sin; tempts you to sin; encourages you to sin.
I’ve got news for you, if there were no devil, you would go on sinning. You would do it all by yourself.
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