With Ash Wednesday and Lent right around the corner, I've been thinking some about human depravity. On Ash Wednesday, we are marked with a cross of ashes to acknowledge our mortality ("Remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return") and as a sign of repentance.
Looking at my daughter, it's hard to see anything beyond a perfect, innocent being. But the truth is, she isn't perfect and innocent. Though she's done no right or wrong of own, she is still born into sin and with a sinful nature. She is the daughter of Eve. It's hard to look at such a beautiful person and acknowledge that she is impure and deserves no good but by the grace of God. It seems morbid and nasty to imagine that cross of ashes placed on her forehead as well, but the truth still remains: she, like all of us, is dust and to dust will return.
It's hard to think about this and accept it as true. You may find it unpleasant that I'm saying any of this - after all, what's the point in thinking about it? I believe it's something I must confront for two reasons: one, as a test of my own faith - can and do I believe the Word of God even when it tells me something as unpleasant as this? and two, to remind myself of my duty to raise this child in Christ, to have her recognise her need for a Saviour, because of her depravity.
I don't have any grand conclusions to make from this observation. It's just what I've been thinking about. The mommy-brain isn't allowing me to think anything highly spectacular in relation to this. I don't even have any suave way of ending this paragraph. It's just been important for me to recognise this truth in light of what I can see with my own eyes and comprehend with my own understanding.
None of us are righteous, not even one.
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