Why are we constantly surprised when people sin? Why am I surprised when *I* sin?
Malcolm Muggeridge once observed, “The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”
Human beings ARE depraved and our hearts ARE bent towards sin. So why are we constantly shocked and offended by bad behavior or hurtful words?
Over the last few years I think I have made progress in reversing my intellectual resistance to the fact of depravity. And although it may seem counterintuitive, I have found that this acceptance of the fact of depravity - in myself and every single person I know - has made it easier to offer grace and forgiveness to others. And furthermore, to admit my own need for grace and forgiveness.
"The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately sick;
Who can understand it?" - Jeremiah 17:9
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