1Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1-7 (LSB) Read verses 5-6 on the site.
We are born from our mothers’ wombs depraved and separated from God because we are sinners. Unless God intervenes in our lives we will be self-absorbed and temporally focused in every part of our lives. We are “depraved” because we desperately seek fulfillment from our only avenue open to us for any circumstance which will tell us we are special or deserving of a positive “feeling” of contentment or fulfillment….
That avenue is the flesh. Our flesh is all about self. Even seemingly selfless acts are done from a motivation of some form of self-gratification.
Man is intensely religious. Even those who claim to be atheists worship themselves. Natural Man must worship someone or something. Idolatry is the result. The following quote of from Martin Luther’s Table Talk from the chapter “Of Idolatry” article CLXXV.
The calves of Jeroboam still remain in the world, and will remain to the last day; not that any man now makes calves like Jeroboam’s, but upon whatsoever a man depends or trusts–God set aside–this is the calves of Jeroboam: this is, other and strange gods, honored and worshipped instead of the only, true, living, and eternal God, who only can and will help and comfort all need. – Martin Luther