The Sin of Willfulness
The Sin of Willfulness
One of the worst of all sins, worse than theft, adultery, or murder, is the sin of wanting one's own way. It is the desiring of one's own way which leads to every other sin in the world. The shortest definition of sin is "I will," and when Lucifer spoke those words (Isa. 14:13, 14) sin thereby entered the universe. Whenever man says, "I will," with a desire which is in opposition to God's will, he, too, is in the midst of sin.
How this willfulness is manifested is shown by an item which appeared in the public news media. A small boy, who was described as a "shy second-grader, eight years old, a little owlish in spectacles," was found guilty of committing a crime in a New Jersey school. It was Valentine's Day. He brought a valentine and put it on his teacher's desk, then went down into the basement and set fire to the school by lighting the wastepaper which was in the boiler room. When the Fire Commissioner conducted an inquiry, evidence pointed to the boy, and he readily admitted that he had set fire to the school. When he was asked why, he explained, as the news report put it, with childish simplicity, "In class yesterday they took away my bubble gum."
The newspaper reporter may have smiled when he heard this. It was one of those items which is sure to fill three or four inches on the front page of a newspaper under the guise of what is known as "human interest." The depths of horror which are in it would not be perceived by those who look upon the matter merely as a childish prank. Only those who know the Word of God could realize how terrible such a manifestation is. Analyze it in the light of the Word of God, and it becomes the fierce pride of the Adamic nature which rises even in a child.
The child said in effect, "I am on the throne of my life, and I want everybody to bow down before me. I want to rule. When I want something I want it, and that is sufficient reason for my having it. If I want bubble gum, I am to have it. If anybody takes it away from me, I have the right to lash out and destroy anything that stands in the way of my merest whim and desire."
This can be explained on the basis of a psychosis, a neurosis, or a complex of some sort, but it is actually a plain manifestation of original sin. If it is allowed to develop, it can put a pistol in the hand of this same lad and make him a murderer. There are not many convicts in prison today who did not, in childhood, do something analogous to the act of this small boy. The fierce self-desire of the Adamic nature manifests itself not only in those tendencies which lead men to prison, but also in those which lead men to the ruthlessness of ecclesiastical leaders who will destroy a church rather than yield a matter of personal pride.
There is only one way to curb the Adamic nature. That is to plant the new life of Jesus Christ alongside it, through the new birth by which we are made "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). Day by day we can then submit our lives to the control of the Lord so that He may keep the old nature in submission. Not even the Christian is safe for a moment unless his old nature is yielded to the Lord for the crucifixion death. No life is safe, no home is secure, unless Christ is made preeminent and the old nature is kept in its place of death.
1. In thinking upon the sin of willful desire, is this the type of sin we see in the garden (Genesis 3)?
2. What ways can one make sure they are seeking the will of God instead of their own?
3. Why is this a worse sin than the examples used by Dr. Barnhouse?
4. Are there any other examples of this type of defiance in society that we see on a regular basis?
