Truly seeing sin in us is a big subject for a believer

Because the heart of Christianity, of our reality as human beings here in this physical environment, is sin and salvation we obviously have to truly see our sinful nature. This is not just a stumbling block for unbelievers (who famously mock the notion that they might be 'sinners' and who justify any act to make themselves out as being innocent), but it is also a problem for believers because of some of the same reasons that don't go away once regenerated by the word and the Spirit.

That last statement might sound wrong. I.e. one might say before one is regenerated one is convicted of their own sin in some way, to some degree. Maybe, maybe not. We don't all live lifestyles involving overt sinful behavior, which gets to the main point of this post.

Much of the sin we as fallen humans are guilty of and polluted with is of the nature of being baked in from birth. I.e. it is so much a part of us, constitutionally, that we can't see it. When it manifests it doesn't clash with anything to alert us to it (other than conscience, once conscience begins to get unburied and become tender).

This is a very big subject because until we can truly see and accept that sin is in us we won't see the value of the Gospel, or Jesus' work on the cross, or God's plan of redemption overall.

We will still call ourselves believers, but it will be weak and shallow.

There are two things Christians have to see and accept the existence of: the supernatural, and sin.

So I'm saying many Christians might be unknowingly weak on seeing sin in themselves simply because they've never really confronted the subject and the reality of their situation.

John Calvin began his Institutes with the observation that it is hard to see sin in ourselves because we tend to compare ourselves to other human beings, and when we do that we tend to see ourselves as being pretty much better than other human beings; so he says we need to compare ourselves to God to see our true nature as it is: fallen, sinful, guilty, full of pollution, and with all the attributes that follow from that such as ingratitude to God Himself.

So what is 'baked in' sin? It is sin we are not even conscious we are manifesting. Take adultery. Adultery is not just sexual, it is spiritual. All our lives, when we have shown favor and given allegiance to one degree or another to various idols, we have engaged in the sin of adultery. We think of it as innocent. Just learning. Developing. And it may be, but it is spiritual adultery nevertheless. That New Age period. That flirting with Hinduism, or Buddhism. An atheist period when we gave ourselves over to a political ideology that involved worship of the state, perhaps. And less obvious, more subtle adulteries. Our will and desire for such things is baked in to us. We don't realize we're sinning as we're doing it.

And one sin convicts, remember. One sin puts us behind the eight ball, so to speak. One sin make us reliant on a Savior to save us. Even if we could be perfect we still have original sin to deal with. We are sunk from birth. If we don't see that, truly, we won't truly value the Gospel, or good news of the Savior.