"This man (Adam) was hurt in his might and made full feeble; and he was stunned in his understanding so that he [was] turned from the beholding of his Lord. But his will was kept whole in God’s sight;—for his will I saw our Lord commend and approve. But himself was letted (hindered) and blinded from the knowing of this will.."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)
When Adam fell, it wasn't that he suddenly became a bad person. His God-given nature or identity was still intact. But he was made weak in might and lacking in mental clarity. He was hindered from living out His good nature. He was in an environment and trap of sin and death that kept him from fulfilling his natural God-given potential. So we humans have been born into a world where we are subject to sin, corruption and death. In this broken world humans are weak and lacking sight of spiritual reality, so that we are not able to see God or see ourselves clearly.
But God sees us clearly, He sees that our good will that He created us with is intact. In fact, God Himself is keeping it safe and whole in Himself so that it is undamaged and never lost. Yet we cannot see this clearly, and sometimes we may wonder what our true will or motivation is deep down. We may wonder if we are basically bad or basically good. But God never forgets or loses sight of who we are as good creations made in His image. And He seeks to show us this truth about ourselves. Christ came to show us our inherent created goodness and value. He is like a mirror showing us who we are, for we were created in the likeness of His nature, meaning we are like Him by nature. We see in Christ the very blueprint for human nature, for we were created in and through and from Him, and we see that human nature is inherently good with the very goodness of God. God never lets go of that good inner nature and He wakes us up to see it, too.
We can confess that we are basically good. We don't have to put ourselves down or hate on ourselves. We have inherent goodness and value that will never change, no matter what our confused attitudes or actions. We naturally want what is good and right, and choosing that is most fulfilling to us and most comfortable. We are "love beings" deep down, even if we cannot see this truth! It's true that humans have been weakened and lost in confusion and could not live out that truth. But Christ has freed us so we can see this truth and live according to it, having lives full of love and fellowship with God and one another.
"Deep within my true identity, I love to do what pleases God."
Romans 7:22 (TPT)
A Prayer: I love knowing my will deep down inside is aligned with Your will. I love knowing that is my real, true self.