Understanding Nature: A prelude to A Study in Forgiveness

This blog is going to be different, I think. I am hunting for real answers, instead of just blogging what I have learned.

Some years back, I realized that I was expecting non-believers to follow the same rules of conduct that I believed were expected of believers. Why did I expect people to act contrary to their nature? I would not try and pet a lion or tiger, for I would fully expect that they would, in the least, bite me, or, in the most, devour me. I would never expect a new-born baby to lead a quite existence, but would rather prepare myself for crying that resulted from hunger or discomfort. So why would I expect adults to lead a life that was contrary to the nature that leads them? When a non-believer "does me wrong", why am I surprised or offended? What makes me feel that this person somehow owes me fairness or "right-doing"? Is my pride a factor? Do I feel that I deserve more? The Bible is clear when it speaks about us having a sin nature. We are all born with a nature that aligns us with the "father of perdition." Therefore, by nature, we all tend to lean toward wrong actions and attitude more than right. When we accept Christ into our lives, and begin to pattern our lives after his example and teachings, his nature begins to grow in us. Although I would like to say that the new purges the old, I cannot. Here, I am not referring to forgiveness. Merely the nature that guides our thoughts and actions. One might compare this mix of natures by taking a glass and filling it with cold coffee. If the coffee represented the sin nature and pure filtered water represented Christ's nature, then we could visualize what would happen if either or both were added to the glass. When an unbeliever accepts Christ, it is as though water is poured into the glass of coffee. The glass overflows and the contents are spilled out as it reaches and overtakes the rim of the glass. The more that this new believer studies and prays and grows more mature in the knowledge of Christ, the more water is poured into the glass and the more diluted the coffee becomes. If a person adds the things of Christ to their lives,(reading of scripture, prayer time, practicing the teachings of Christ) then water is added. If they add the things of the sin nature, then coffee is added. This is not to say works and deeds. This is more about spiritual maturity and relationship with Christ.

How many people are able to meet someone for the very first time and live for decades and be able to state that they "know" that person intimately. I have a hard time remembering names of people and have to rely on frequency of use to remember them. My students learn, rather quickly, that I experience difficulty in committing their names to memory in the first few weeks of school. It is only after I have spent time with them , conversed with them, learned details that will serve as memory markers that I can say that I know my students. When they are promoted to the next grade and I don't see them for a long while, can I honestly say that I "know" them. Not to any significant degree. Then how is it that a person can say that they know Christ when they have never invested any time to get to know him? If we never take the time to converse with him, spend time with him, etc. how can we "know" him?

My favorite author, of all time, is C.S. Lewis. I enjoy his writing. I have read many of his books. I have spent time listening to his ideas and thoughts, through his writings. The more that I read, the more that I feel that I "know" him. Get it?

If I continue to pour clean filtered water into my glass of coffee, eventually there will be little trace of the coffee. But, if I pour water in and periodically pour in more coffee, then whichever gets added more will influence the contents of the cup more and those who look at the cup will surely be able to judge whether or not the cup is useful (drinkable) or not. Should I not be able to look at a glass that is darkened by coffee and know that if I were to take a drink I would not be happy with the taste. After all, I despise coffee. If I see that the  glass is not clear and I drink, do I have the right to curse the glass for tasting foul? Should I not have expected it?