Just recently, I’ve come to realize that I am a glass half empty kind of guy. (My wife is rolling her eyes as she reads this, wondering what took me so long).

I’ve always viewed humanity as inherently flawed and dark. Something to be overcome. I’m pretty sure I’ve blogged about it at some point, talking about how we have to refuse “self” in order to succeed in our walk. The flesh is weak. I’ll give you that. And we are a fallen creature. I’ll give you that as well. And without God, nothing is possible for us. Yep, still giving. However, I’m opening up to an argument that maybe I’ve been too negative in my views on human nature. That maybe it’s more like the glass is half full.

In The Purpose of Man,  A.W. Tozer talks about human nature in a positive tone. He suggests that “something deep within man compels him to seek someone or something outside of himself to worship and adore.” We are wired that way. We are driven to find a purpose that is larger than we are. Yes, since Adam and the garden we’ve fallen. But this vessel that is man was built by God with specific purposes and intentions. It was designed for greatness.

The problem is that we don’t usually respond positively to our desires. We misread our body’s signals. We grasp after cheap imitations. We self medicate and unconsciously accept substitutes from the world around us.  It’s just like a computer. You’ve heard the old saying: Garbage in, garbage out. It’s not that the machine is designed to produce bad results.  The problem with the output is almost always the input.

When we try to scratch the natural itch – that God placed within us – in the wrong way, we end up worshiping idols, being destroyed by addiction or getting lost amidst hopelessness. Garbage in. Garbage out.

This is critically important in my eyes, because there is something hopeful and motivating about considering we might actually be good at our core and not bad. That we are machines designed by God for greatness, and that if we have the right inputs, we will generate holy outputs.

For me, growing up in church, the message of us being sinners, wretched sinners, always seemed to be prominent and present, while the message of my limitless potential in God was more faint and fleeting. I’ve always focused on the fact that I’m not worthy of His salvation (true, so very true), at the expense of seeing the plans He has for me and the power He sees in me. It’s easy to deduct how I got sideways on this issue. As Christians, we grow up learning that we are flawed at our core, wretches, fallen creatures. And then we are scored and judged and measured (at least far too often) by the yardstick of being “Christ-like”. A tall order for a wretch.

It can seem hopeless. It can be debilitating in our walk. At least in mine. If my nature is naturally bad, there is no way for me to sustain success and live up to a set of standards that are unattainable. And why is it that I must always feel as if I’ve come up short of this standard instead of feeling good about progress I’ve made toward it? Isn’t it better to celebrate the wins and not always focus on the losses?

I may be alone on this issue. I truly might be the only one out there, but I have to believe that others are drinking from half empty glasses as well. And to you, I’d say this. As humans, we are flawed. Yes, of course. And we are fallen. And we are creatures at the mercy of our creator. But we are designed by God for greatness. We are inherently good. We have unlimited potential in the Lord.

We’d do well (me specifically) to focus on the right inputs that allow this wonderful machine to produce the results God intended for it and to celebrate our successes to that end. See humanity for the light it can shine and not for the darkness it can cast. And put to rest the dichotomy of wretches being judged on their resemblance to Christ and replace it with rejoicing for growth toward a closer walk with God. Victory for us lies in progress, not perfection.