“The sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands.” (Martin Luther).
It is amazing how human beings are just so convinced that we would know better than the “3 O” God — Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent — who can’t be trusted…but we do that all too often. In fact, along with many others, I believe we are in grave danger now and under His judgment for the same reason. Knowingly, or unknowingly, believing that lie is rebellion and leads to idolatry. This happens within our faith institutions as well as within other institutions around us.
It happens individually when we fall into this all too familiar cycle: fear, unbelief, pride, rebellion. Basically, something frightens us for our own or others’ well-being; we struggle with knowing Messiah CAN help us but not sure if He WILL help, sliding into the self sufficiency or pride part of it, which can be either in arrogance or desperation, thinking we then must figure out ourselves what to do, which lands us in the bottom most pit of rebellion, because of course, whatever we figure out is our way, not at all His way.
E. James Wilder, founder of Life Model, calls it believing the “sark.” T ...
