It's Only Natural

                                                                                                                         

Aloha Dearest Family,

My wife and I sometimes watch nature shows on TV about various animals and their habits. We learned some cool stuff. Like: The Bird of Paradise will display his brightly colored feathers and do a strange hopping dance to impress the female bird (this is pretty cool to see). Sea turtles will travel sometimes thousands of miles to lay their eggs on the very same beach that they were hatched on. The male salmon, when traveling back to the spawning grounds, will physically change his appearance and grow teeth. Why do these animals do these things? They were designed to do them. It is inherent in their nature. They are behaving the way their ancestors did for thousands of years.

We were all born with a common, ancient ancestor. His name was Adam. Because of Adam's disobedience to God we all inherited a sinful nature. It wasn't our fault. Sinfulness was our very nature. 

"Among whom also we all had our conversation (manner of life) 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, even as others." (Ephesians 2:3) 

But thanks be to God, He provided a perfect sacrifice for our sins and sin nature. Jesus Christ paid the price and ransomed us back to God. We now have a new nature. A Godly nature. This new nature is also referred to as the new man. "And that ye put on the NEW MAN, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Ephesians 4:24) This "new man" is an entirely new creation that has new qualities and a new nature.

Jesus said, "If you have seen me, you seen the Father." He always did the will of the Father. Jesus Christ was the perfect representation of who God is. God's goodness, God's mercy, God's fathomless love, God's loving kindness, God's compassion, God's power, God's peace that surpasses all understanding. These traits were seen in the life of Jesus Christ. But isn't this just natural? Naturally Jesus would demonstrate the traits of His Father. 

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, (the blood of Jesus Christ) even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." 

Notice it says here "firstborn", indicating that there would be others. Earlier we learned that we have a new nature. It is the nature of Jesus Christ. The traits that were evident in Jesus Christ are now in you. They are a part of your DNA. This is how you were designed to be.

When we choose to renew our minds to God's Word and walk by the spirit that He has given to us, these traits will start to be more evident. 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22, 23) 

As you walk by the spirit day by day, you will naturally become more loving, more peaceful, more joyful. We will naturally long to do God's Will. Then we can truly become imitators of God our Father. This is how God has designed you to be. After all, it's only natural.

Love Always, Ray