Drowning or Drowned? Thoughts on Our Condition as Sinners

Sorry for the prolonged absence from the blogosphere. It's been a while I know, but I've had some stuff that's been needing to be dealt with. Nevertheless, I'm back in time for Christmas!

I heard a commercial on a Christian radio station the other day that said we are all “drowning in our sin.” A drowning person is fighting for his life. He is fighting to get out of the waters that are trying to choke him. He is in need of help. He needs a rescuer. It sounds good enough, right? But is it a biblical picture of us in our sin? While it’s true that we need a rescuer, is it true that we are really fighting for our lives to get out of our sin and merely need someone to assist us in our desire to escape?

The Bible paints no such picture of us in our sin. The picture is much more hopeless than that. Consider the following observations from Ephesians 2:1-5:

• We were dead in our sins (vs. 1, 5)
• We followed the course of this world (v. 2)
• We followed “the prince of the power of the air” – namely, Satan (v. 2)
• We lived in the passion of our flesh (v. 3)
• We were by nature children of wrath (v. 3)

We are not drowning; we are DROWNED. We do not want out of our sin; we WANT it. We’re not trying to escape anything; we FOLLOW SIN deeper. We don’t want a rescue; we need a RESURRECTION. Our condition as sinners is so hopeless that we, left to ourselves, only deserve God’s wrath, and justly that’s all that we should receive.

But in spite of this hopeless condition of our souls, look at what God does:

• Instead of giving us his just wrath, he shows mercy (v. 4)
• Rather than let us face his righteous anger, he loves us with a great love (v. 4)
• Rather than leave us dead in our sin, he makes us alive (v. 5)

The source of all the good things that God does for the sinful man is this: Christ. As we celebrate CHRISTmas, the focus of our holiday should be not on the gifts we receive, the family we see, or the twinkling of lights on trees, houses, etc. Our focus should be on Christ, who is a great Savior. But we will not see how great a Savior he is unless we see how bad off we are without him. If we were merely drowning, there are many who could save. But who can save a dead man? Only Christ. And that is ample reason to celebrate this season.

How do you understand your condition as a sinner, and how does that lead you to see Jesus? How would you explain it to someone who does not believe the gospel?