What Sinners Do

“We all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath” —Ephesians 2:3

A panda walked into a restaurant, sat down, and ate breakfast. When he was done, he stood up, shot the waitress, and walked out. The owner of the restaurant ran after him, yelling, “What did you do that for?”

“I’m a panda. I do what panda’s do,” the panda yelled. “Look it up in the dictionary.” So the owner of the restaurant did just that. He looked up “panda” and read, “Panda: noun, mammal. Eats shoots and leaves.”

This story reminds us animals do what it is their nature to do. Squirrels eat nuts because that is their nature. Pigs roll in the mud because they are pigs (2 Pet. 2:22). Ducks quack because they are ducks. Dogs bark because they are dogs.  Lions roar because they are lions.

We should never be surprised by the bad behavior of lost sinners. They are only doing what is in their nature.  And sinners sin because they are sinners.  What do you expect?  They cannot do otherwise.  As Jeremiah wrote, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (Jer. 13:23).

If you want to change a sinner’s outward behavior they must be given a new nature on the inside. That is exactly what happens when a person is born again. They become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 2:4). Then real change takes place— “He is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become NEW” (2 Cor. 5:17).