HATE THE NATURAL LIFE

Introduction

The call to the kingdom life is a call to discipleship. Is a call to receive the fullness of God in Christ. Discipleship is the learning of the life of Christ. Discipleship is the call away from natural life.

Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Natural life, also referred in the bible as self, flesh, the old man and natural or sinful nature is the state of man from conception.

We all need to embark on the journey of discipleship, by opening up our heart and learning the life of Christ. Because, we all were conceived and born in flesh.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

When Jesus answered in John 3:5 saying, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’. He was taking cognizant of the natural life. To be born of water is not referring to water baptism. It describes the braking of the amniotic sac as the water flows out prior to ejection in childbirth.

Learning the life of Christ in discipleship is like when you bring a cup of of muddy water and and a gallon of clean water. If you undertake the task of emptying the gallon of water into the cup of muddy water. When you do this slowly, you will get to a stage when the muddy water flows out and the water in the cup becomes clean.

In discipleship, we are like the cup of muddy water. While Jesus is the clean gallon water. As we open up and allow Jesus to pour Himself into us, we are transformed from glory to glory to the fullness of Christ Jesus.

Human Nature is Ours by Inheritance

Journey away from natural life starts by firstly acknowledging it’s spontaneity and potency in us naturally.

Job 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
1 Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
Psalms 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies

We are the children of Adam naturally. We have in us the same nature of Cain that made him kill his brother.

The Horrible Nature of the Natural Man

Secondly, the journey away from natural life is by understanding why we should abhor the flesh.

The natural life is an impossible way to heaven. Jesus said with emphasis in His tet-atete with Nicodemus that the old man cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Romans 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

A typical picture of the natural life is around us in our various environment when we take up a case scenario of one full fledged natural life.

Talk about many cases of suicide we hear, talk about many cases of under eighteen ladies who have lost count of the number of men they have had sex with and had had more than five abortion, talk about young men who have lost control of their mind in illhabit for addiction, talk about crisis and corruption here and there in our society, then you will not fail to see the emptiness of the natural life.

It is as empty, ugly and abhoreable just as the body when life is taken away from it. Not like those corpses the government or their relatives take away or take to the mortuary but horrible just like those that are forgotten and rottening by the way side.

The horrible state of man is not an accident. Every man is born with the natural seed, these seeds begins to have expression even at one year after birth. The seed also grows in emptiness with stature in wickedness.

The natural life if not arrested will multiply to more wickedness and manifest even in childbirth. Check the life of Jacob’s 12 sons; those he birthed before he surrendered to God turned up producing fruits of wickedness, while those he birthed after he surrendered to God showed better spiritual fruits.

Man is doomed in this state except God intervenes, when he is born again-Born of the spirit.

Wrap Up

The natural life is the doom of man. But praise be to the name of our Lord for He has made a way out for us.

We should all turn to God for help, with an open heart to have Him pour Himself into us and humbling ourselves so He can exalt us above our helpless natural life.

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

When we are faced with a terrible sin, humbling ourselves here could mean praying and submitting ourselves in admittance of our need for help from God. Then God will exalt us into victory.

Jesus, our Lord and example humbled Himself and God granted Him favour and He grew in stature and Grace.

Shalom!