Disposition and spirit

I quote today's reading from My Utmost here because it applies so perfectly to what I am studying, particularly the first few verses of Romans 8. It helps to answer the question I have been flushing out of what God did that the Law could not do. It also provides one of the best definitions of sin that I have heard.

Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Romans 5:12.

The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin; but that the disposition of sin, viz., my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race by one man, and that another Man took on Him the sin of the human race and put it away (Heb. 9:26)—an infinitely profounder revelation. The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of selfrealization—I am my own god. This disposition may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality, but it has the one basis, my claim to my right to myself. When Our Lord faced men with all the forces of evil in them, and men who were clean living and moral and upright, He did not pay any attention to the moral degradation of the one or to the moral attainment of the other; He looked at something we do not see, viz., the disposition.

Sin is a thing I am born with and I cannot touch it; God touches sin in Redemption. In the Cross of Jesus Christ God redeemed the whole human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a man responsible for having the heredity of sin. The condemnation is not that I am born with a heredity of sin, but if when I realize Jesus Christ came to deliver me from it, I refuse to let Him do so, from that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “And this is the judgment” (the critical moment) “that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light.”

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. October 5

“This disposition may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality... He did not pay any attention to the moral degradation of the one or to the moral attainment of the other; He looked at something we do not see, viz., the disposition.” This is a very good way to describe the two groups of people I see addressed in Romans. The first group displaying moral degradation is presented in Romans 1 and again primarily I think in Romans 6. The second group who focus on moral attainments are found in Romans 2 and primarily again in Romans 7. The commonality between both classes of people is the root problem of the condition of their spirit, what Chambers describes as the disposition.

This also helps me understand more clearly the issue of inherited sin that makes so many people very upset and mad at God. When we think of sin as primarily external oriented bad things we do that make us guilty before a Judge, then we get a strong reaction of feeling like a victim of unfairness by the Judge and we resent God's right to judge us.

But when we come to realize that the deeper issue of sin is our disposition that demands our rights for ourselves and our right to self-actualization independent of our Creator, then the issue of sin takes on a whole new color. In fact, it may not even appear as sin anymore but may seem to be a very legitimate attitude or belief.

Our obsession with rights may have caused us to embrace within ourselves the very core of the sin problem without our even realizing it, which in turn causes a great deal of confusion when trying to understand what God wants to do for us in salvation. Based on our country's Constitution document, many of us believe that our rights are inherent in just being a human being, but that is not really the case. It is true that our legitimate, God-given rights supersede the interference of any government or group of people trying to dictate and micromanage our lives. Governments can only give privileges, not rights. Rights must be respected by others but cannot be endowed on us by them.

But our relation to God is quite different than our relation to government by other humans. Our “rights” as human beings in relation to each other are really privileges when viewed in relation to God. And while rights cannot be granted, but only respected by other humans, they cannot be viewed in the same way when we think about our relationship with the One who created us.

“The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of selfrealization—I am my own god. This disposition may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality, but it has the one basis, my claim to my right to myself.” Self-fulfillment, actualization, realization are all very popular ideas today that run cross-wise to the design we were originally created to live by. Salvation places us “in Christ Jesus” where we are not self-actualized or realized but find our highest joy and fulfillment in realizing His character and beauty, love and power flowing through us while lost in complete self-forgetful focus on others.

Many religious people rightly denounce the inroads of popular philosophy about self-actualization. But they fail to realize that in their attempts to achieve righteousness themselves they have simply replaced one symptom of sin for another; because sin, at its core, is not in the external manifestations but is a condition of the heart and the spirit causing us to focus on ourselves while the rest of the universe lives in the condition of selfless, life-giving attention on others. The life of all creation is the necessary circulation of the life-giving blood of selfless love – receiving to give. When we get caught in the trap of focusing more on our selves than in being open channels to pass through grace from God then we begin to stagnate and become poisoned with the lies of sin.

I believe that Oswald Chambers and Paul are saying the same thing. The disposition inside of us, the condition of our spirit, is what we need to pay most attention to. When we realize that we are born with the natural problem of idol worship – the craving to be our own god and run our own life apart from God – then we can recognize more clearly that the real problem is inherent in our natural disposition of selfishness. This is the deepest place inside of us that must be transformed by God's grace for us to enjoy the Redemption provided for us in Christ.

Romans 8 is Paul's description of the condition of connecting our spirit to be led by God's Spirit so that we can become reoriented to live the selfless, other-focused life we were designed to live and enjoy the satisfaction and fulfillment that our hearts deeply crave. How do we get into that relationship with God? By surrendering the very core of the problem to Him – our right to ourself.

While I do not believe I should surrender my God-given rights to be controlled or manipulated by other humans, at the same time I cannot find success and fulfillment by demanding my rights. My only hope is to surrender my rights back to the One who gave them to me to begin with, trusting that He will look after me and care for me while at the same time setting healthy boundaries in my relationships with others.

But I can only live in this kind of relationship with Him if I see enough of His goodness to be able to trust Him with my right to myself. The worse my picture of God is twisted and distorted by the lies of the enemy the more difficult it is for me to rest in His love and entrust Him with the management of my life. Because of this I have found it most helpful to fill my mind with more and more clear truth about what God is really like. As I do this the faith and trust awaken naturally and I don't have to force myself to trust Him. The more I see His trustworthiness the more naturally my faith flows from a heart drawn to His genuine love for me.

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