Skip to main content

Laws of Nature


Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8)
        Thirty years ago I watched the beginning of John Carpenter's "The Thing." (I do not recommend it.) After showing the windswept vista of an Antarctic science outpost, the camera zoomed in on an Alaskan Malamute running across the snow. It ran up to some scientists, who, having no idea from whence the dog came, put it in with the rest of the sled dogs and all the dogs just sort of ignored it and as it settled in. My thought at the time was, "sled dogs don't act that way." Of course, I knew it was a monster movie, and it was not long after that I had to leave the theater. It seems to me it took months for my mind to let go of the image of what happened to that dog, and I don't let myself think about it much because that image is not one I care to reconstruct. I suspect I could, even now.
       In the movie, the dogs didn't act in accordance with the nature of dogs. Watching the movie (and afterwards) I did act according to mine. . I think it took me one more horror movie after that to learn my lesson. Now I tend to ask people about how graphic a movie gets before I go to see it. I may not be quite as squeamish as I was, but I know better the price I'll pay if I chance it and I'm wrong.  We expect things to behave according to their natures. When they don't, we notice.
         This is what Paul is writing about here. Those who have a sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires. Those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. It's natural. If you have your DVR set to record a program, and it records something else (or nothing), you are likely to be understandably upset. If you have your stereo set to a radio station and a different station comes in instead, you don't generally think it a good thing unless the other radio station is more like the one you wanted than the one you wanted. If we are "set" to a nature that is hostile toward God, we cannot please him and don't want to.  In that state, I suspect we ultimately cannot please ourselves, either. We can only delude ourselves and hope to enjoy our delusion.  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Birthday of
Abraham Lincoln
Charles Darwin
Cotton Mather

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more