I remember hearing years ago about a woman who gave birth to a baby and claimed it to be a total surprise. She said she had no idea she was pregnant those 40 weeks and even in the hours before the baby was born.
As hard as that story is to believe, it’s just about as confounding as people who act surprised when their sins come kicking and screaming into the world. Some people like to disconnect themselves from their sin, acting as though it has come upon them rather than from them. But Psalm 7 teaches us that sin begins inside. It is conceived by desire and then warmed, incubated, and fed until it is born in action. And this is how it is for each and every one of us.
In Matthew 5 Jesus teaches that even the desire for sin counts as sin. That’s because God doesn’t only want your actions, He also wants your heart. Knowing, however, that we cannot fully and blamelessly give it to Him, He gave Himself to us and died for all our sins—from the day we came kicking and screaming into this world until the moment life ends.