Information Related to "Man's Missing Ingredient"
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What is the cause of crime, violence and terror? Psychologists, sociologists and others place the blame on poverty, dysfunctional families, poor parenting and the like. Although these no doubt increase the likelihood of criminal activity, they are not the fundamental cause.
Our own human nature is a major contributor to the problem and to the suffering that inevitably results.
The root of the problem is that men and women are fundamentally incomplete. We are lacking a key ingredient.
According to God's Word, human beings are essentially selfish—concerned primarily with our own self-gratification. The Bible refers to this as being "carnally minded" or motivated by "the flesh."
The apostle Paul contrasts this selfish orientation with a mind that is motivated to live God's way: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:5-8).
Paul then points out man's missing ingredient—the Spirit of God. "But you do not live like that. You live by the spirit, since God's Spirit dwells in you . . ." (verse 9, Revised English Bible).
Without access to God's Spirit, human beings are motivated primarily by their selfish desires. With God's Spirit, however, a remarkable change can take place.
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