And so am I, everyone is. Parents are naturally biased toward their children. It is common for university students to have the same political and moral bias - just watch the things they support and protest about. It is also interesting to note that many times a ‘bias’ has nothing to do with the facts. The dictionary describes ‘bias’ as, ‘A mental tendency, preference, or prejudice’. Facts are not mentioned. I would say people are more persuaded to stick with their bias than to accept or believe facts.
Some biases are good, some bad, and some normal - like the bias of a mother towards her child. There is one bias we all have no matter what our race, culture, country or religion is and that is; we all have a bias to be bad. There is something in us that leans toward evil. It is not hard to make a case for such a statement; just look at history and the evil people have inflicted on one another. We don’t even need history to convince us of that - look at people right now; look at yourself right now. History just shows us how consistent we have been. We love revenge, to get our own way, to be selfish, speak badly of others, hold wrong attitudes, to have power, to control. We have all lied, cheated, exaggerated… God forbid it be revealed what goes on in our minds! I don’t know about you, but I’m amazed at how bad I can be, what I can think, what I’m capable of doing and saying. It seems to be second nature, my built-in auto-pilot. Leave the controls for a minute and it will take over.
The Bible has a lot to say about the results of this bias. ‘There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.’ (Romans 3:12-18)
Listen to the cry of the great Apostle Paul, a man sold out to the cause of Christ, who wrote half the New Testament. ‘I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing’ (Romans 7:18-19). Our sin nature or ‘old self’ is apart of life. We feel its effects everyday. Since it has such a major influence in our lives, here are some facts about our sin nature we should be aware of.
* It is skilled in the art of bitterness, resentment, gossip, jealousy, revenge, lust, manipulation, bad attitudes…
* It will justify its actions with ’sound logic’.
* It has a loud voice and screams for attention.
* It never gives us a day off; it is with us all the time.
* It puts in its opinion on every decision we make.
* It can infiltrate ‘good motives’ without us noticing.
* It affects our whole being - body, soul, mind, and spirit.
* It is a device Satan can use.
* It gets stronger the more we give in to it
* We are most likely to obey its urges immediately after some type of success or testimony.
What an adversary! It really is a war within and no one can claim immunity. I think the Devil gets blamed for a lot of stuff that’s just us giving into our ‘old self’. There is a joke about the Devil sitting by the side of the road all sad and depressed. An angel walked up to him and asked, ‘What’s wrong, Devil?’ and he replied, ‘I get blamed for all this stuff I don’t get a chance to do’. I don’t say that to down-play Satan’s influence, but only to make the point that we should wise up to our own sin nature. Obeying our sin nature will affect us, and it’s not just momentary. It can set us up with attitudes that last a lifetime. It can distort the whole way we live our life and experience God.
Ephesians 4:22-24 says: ‘…with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’ (emphasis mine). God has given to us the responsibility to lay aside and put on. Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest was right when he said, ‘God will not make me think like Jesus – I have to do it myself. I have to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”‘ (2 Corinthians 10:5). The ‘old self’ and the ‘new self’ represent the two opposing spiritual sides. We decide whom we team up with in the development of our character therefore; in the words of Joshua (chapter 24, verse 15) I challenge you, ‘Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve’.