-Your Father, Your Nature, Your Desires

Reading: Genesis 3:1-7; John 8:44; 1 John 3:8-10

Jesus does not mince words in John 8. He tells the religious leaders plainly that their spiritual father is the devil, and that their desires align with his nature. This is not a personal insult hurled in anger. It is a diagnostic statement of spiritual reality. Since the fall of Adam in the garden, every human being is born with a nature bent toward independence from God, toward self-rule, toward the desire to define good and evil on our own terms. That is the original temptation the serpent offered Eve, and it remains the deepest pull of the unregenerate heart. But 1 John 3 reminds us that those who are born of God do not continue in the practice of sin as a pattern of life. The new birth changes the direction of our deepest desires. What do your desires reveal about your spiritual condition?

Reflection Questions:

• Where in your life do you notice the pull toward spiritual independence, the desire to rule your own life rather than submit to God?
• How has the new birth changed what you want, love, and pursue?

Practical Application: Identify one area of your life where you have been resisting the Lordship of Christ. Bring it before God in confession and surrender it to him in prayer today.