Testimonials

2/17/2015 0 Comments

We finally gave up and bought one.  With my personal situation it seemed inordinately stubborn not to use what could be a real help when I was stuck somewhere unable to get home, or at the doctor’s office when out of the blue I needed a procedure.  It has happened more than once already.  So we bought a cell phone.  
    We did not buy one of those expensive phones with “plans;” just a cheap little prepaid phone with an hour of talk time good for three months.  After a year I can still count the number of times I have used it without taking my shoes off, and I have amassed enough minutes to carry on a peace conference between two double-talking diplomats.
    Yet I do keep it handy, and I forgot it was in my sweater pocket the day I happened to think that the load of laundry I was running was perfect for that sweater, and the sweater was dingy around the cuffs from petting dogs and sitting around smoky campfires.  So I threw it in the washer as I went by, and found the cell phone in the bottom a half hour later, sparkling clean but dead as a doornail.
    Not because we thought it would work, but because we have had to be so frugal for our entire married life, we let the phone dry out completely, then tried charging it.  It has worked fine ever since.  It even remembered the phone numbers Lucas programmed into it for me.  I bet you would like to know the brand, wouldn’t you?
    I have something else that is a whole lot more valuable than a cell phone, and many times more amazing.  Why can’t I bring myself to talk about it just as easily?  Actually, it has been easier lately.  I think we worry too much about how to do it, instead of just letting it happen.  Evangelism happens as you live your life.  
    If I had simply told you that I had this cell phone, it would not have made an impression on you.  But when I told you how it has helped me in difficult situations and then how dependable it was in spite of how I abused it, it suddenly became much more interesting, didn’t it?
    That makes my daily life a much more important part of my Christianity.  How can I expect to have any influence when I do not live like I have anything more than anyone else has?  If they do not see me overcome, if they do not see me return good for evil, if they do not see joy and contentment regardless of my financial situation, if they do not see peace in my life when others with the same problems are falling apart, my life is not evangelism.  In fact, it is quite the opposite.  What we perceive as a lack of interest in the gospel may simply be a lack of interest in what we have because of how we are behaving.
    Live your life like a testimonial.  You will have more opportunity than ever to spread your faith, even without some sort of special “program.”  People will only want what you have when they see it in action.  

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shines unto all that are in the house. Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matt 5:14-16.

Dene Ward

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Directions

2/9/2015 0 Comments

Men and women are different when it comes to directions.  Men want exact road names and exact number addresses.  Women?  We’re happy with, “Turn by the weeping willow and it’s the house with the closed-in carport.”  Even if I have been there before, Keith does not feel secure if he doesn’t have something more than, “Two roads past the firehouse and the next door neighbors have a yard full of crabgrass.”  I always thought it was my vision—I haven’t been able to read street signs in years, forget those numbers on the houses.  But no, all my women friends give directions exactly the same way:  turn left at the round-about and it’s halfway around the next curve where the honeysuckle blooms on the mailbox.  Can we help it if men can’t tell the difference between honeysuckle and plumbago?
    Funny how that also describes the difference in people in spiritually.  Some people want a list.  Here, they seem to say, I’ve done this and this and this, so I ought to be all right.  Then there are others who go by what “looks right” or “feels right.”  I recently heard a young woman who has decided she wants to be a preacher say this: “When I walked into the room, I just felt at peace, so I knew God was saying that was all right.”  And this woman wants to preach the gospel?
    Just like you need a good balance of exact address and some helpful landmarks when following directions, maybe you need a good balance of exactly what is right and what is wrong plus the common sense to know when something just doesn’t “feel right.”  In Galatians 5 Paul ends that list of the lusts of the flesh with, “and such like,” and the fruit of the Spirit with, “against such there is no law.”  “Such” means he hasn’t listed every single thing, but if you are honest, you should be able to figure this out for yourselves.  It should be obvious to anyone with a normal IQ, he seems to be saying, but here is a list to get you started.
    “The Bible doesn’t say it’s wrong,” is as an excuse as old as my grandparents at least.  I’ve heard it all my life.  It’s just an admission that the person doesn’t have the sense God gave a goose, the common sense He expects us to use when we are trying to determine His will.  
    You can’t check off your service to God as if it were nothing more important than buying groceries and you can’t tell Him it felt good so you fell for it, even if it did violate the plain words of scripture.  
    God gives us directions that are easy to follow—as long as you want to do His will.

If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood, John 7:17-18.

Dene Ward

A Bad Mood

2/4/2015 0 Comments

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!  Psalm 107:1

    Have you ever had a friend who made you wonder how you would be greeted and treated on any particular day?  Have you ever had a boss who one minute nominated you for employee of the year and the next left you in fear of losing your job?  Have you yourself ever woke up one morning and bitten everyone’s head off just for being alive and daring to smile?
    Moody people are difficult to deal with.  You never know how to act.  You never know what to say and not to say.  In fact, you do your best to avoid people like that if at all possible.  And when you recognize that you have done it to others, you loathe yourself for it.  It isn’t right; it isn’t fair; it certainly isn’t kind.
    This brings me to the verse at the top, a promise we all too often read without thinking, as if it were a meaningless refrain.  “His steadfast love endures forever.”  It isn’t just that God will love us forever, though that is reason enough to praise Him.  That word “endure” also carries with it the idea that His love is consistent and will never waver.  You will never find God in a bad mood.  
    You don’t have to worry that one day He has a headache and might be a little short-tempered.  He won’t ever get up on the wrong side of bed and snap at you because you dared to talk to Him before He had His morning cup of coffee.  He won’t decide on a whim one morning to hand you a pink slip.  God’s love is consistent—nothing can cause it to vacillate as long as you serve Him with all your heart.
    If we truly want to be more like Him, we should love Him the same way—whether the day brings good or ill, whether we feel well or not, and even when we suffer.  It’s not like He didn’t suffer for us, and not only did His love not waver then, it is precisely because of His unwavering love for us that He suffered.
    And if we want to serve Him, maybe we should do our best to get past those bad moods we foist on others.  There is no excuse for pettiness, for mean-spiritedness, for spite and malice, no matter what we are going through at the time, certainly not because we just happen to be in a bad mood that day.  As servants, we don’t have the right to be in a bad mood--we must be in the mood to love and serve Him every day, which means, according to Matthew 25, loving and serving others that way.  
    Unwavering, eternal love—that’s what He gives, and that is what we should return.  

Love is patient and kind…it is not arrogant or rude. It is not irritable or resentful… 1 Cor 13:4-6.

Dene Ward

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January 27, 1880--Light Bulbs

1/27/2015 0 Comments

The first light bulb patent was issued on January 27, 1880. Since then we have become almost completely dependent upon them.  They have also become symbols for “shedding light” or “seeing the light” in various ways.  The light bulb in comic strips stands for an idea occurring to one of the characters.
In Bible class the other morning we were talking about moments we have when we study, times when all of a sudden everything makes sense, or something new strikes us that we never thought about before.  Sometimes I call them epiphanies, but more often I say I had a “light bulb moment.”  You would think that the older you get, the fewer of those moments you have because you know more, right?  Light bulb moments have nothing to do with how much you know.  While it is true that you won’t have them if you do not learn, it is also true that you won’t have them if all you do is cram facts into your head.  Light bulb moments come because you have thought about what you know.  You have, as my grandmother used to say “studied on it”—by that she meant, turned it over and over, and come at it from all directions.
    If I have been a Christian for ten, twenty, thirty years and have experienced none of these moments, then maybe I need to examine my acquaintance with the scriptures.    If all I can do is recite pet phrases and scriptures, then God’s word is not living in my life as it should.  In fact, it has nothing to do with my everyday life at all—maybe I just use it to prove some doctrine wrong.  I don’t think that is what God had in mind.
    These light bulb moments should go off in my mind because I use the scriptures often, think about them often, and live by them every day.  Paul and John both call the scriptures “the Word of Life,” Phil 2:16; 1 John 1:1, but they won’t give me life if I don’t use them regularly.  If I don’t have any light bulb moments, I am living in the dark, no matter how many scriptures I can recite or how often I “go to church.” 
    Luke 24:16 tells us of two men whose “eyes were holden that they should not know him.”  Jesus had a reason for that, but when the time was right “their eyes were opened,” v 31.  Later on as he spoke to the disciples, “opened he their minds that they might understand the scriptures,” v 45.  After approximately three years of teaching, he expected them to start having “light bulb moments,” and they did.  As accustomed as he was to using everyday things in his teaching, if they had had light bulbs in their homes, I bet he would have used that very phrase.  Now it’s our turn to have them.

[I] cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened that you may know what is the hope of this calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe... Eph 1:16-19

Dene Ward

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Just Becuase

1/22/2015 0 Comments

Do you see it?  Sometimes I get to typing too fast.  I want to get it down while it’s still fresh, or more often, before I forget it, and so the typos pop up all over—mistyped words, missing words, and recently, a homophone I never caught even after several edits.
    Other times, though, I have simply taught myself to type something wrong by doing it that way over and over.  “Becuase” is a prime example.  I type it wrong nearly every time.  Even when I slow down, I type it wrong more often than not.  The only thing that will ever help is to make myself type it correctly again and again and again.  Guess what?  I may type it wrong less often, but it will be a problem forever, something I must actively think about every time the word comes up if I hope to do it correctly--all “becuase” .I have typed it wrong from the beginning.
     Sin works that way too.  If you train yourself to do things wrong, or if you train yourself not to do things right, you will have that problem for the rest of your life.  It isn’t just alcoholics and drug addicts who must fight their problems every day, it’s plain old ordinary sinners too
      Have you always used vulgar language?  Don’t expect it to clean itself up just because you became a Christian.  The words are too ingrained in your mind.  Far better to have never placed them there at all.
    Have you always given in to anger?  Don’t expect to automatically ignore the annoyances of life with a shrug of the shoulders.  Instead of learning self-control in the first place, you indulged in throwing a fit over every little thing far too long for it to simply disappear without any effort at all.
    Have you been part of the gossip chain for years and years?  Don’t expect your ears to stop tingling when a juicy tidbit floats within earshot just because you claim to now believe in Jesus.  You will find some way to make excuses for it if you don’t actively make yourself stop.
    This is not to discourage you, but to encourage you to work at it and never give up. Things may get easier, but those sins you indulged in regularly will always be a problem.  We view sin far too trivially, which is why you hear nonsense like, “Let him sow his wild oats.”  Sin will have its effect, even after it has been forgiven, simply from the bad habit of it, if nothing else.  Usually, though, there is a something else—like pleasure or a sense of belonging, two things that are difficult to give up.  
    This is also to encourage those who were brought up to know better to treat that as a blessing instead of a curse.  Praise God for your good parents.  Don’t throw those blessings away because you think you need to experience things in order to understand them.  Don’t start a habit that is hard to break.  Sin can be forgiven but the damage cannot be easily undone.  

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end,  Heb 3:12-14.    

Dene Ward

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

1/16/2015 0 Comments

I have never been a shoe person.  The last pair of dress shoes I had were classic black pumps—they were the only pair of dress shoes I needed because they went with everything.  I wore them until the heels were wrapped in black electrical tape to hide the nicks and scrapes, and the soles had worn through, showing the white plastic bottoms, about ten years I’d guess.  Then I went shoe shopping.  
    I have never seen so many ugly excuses for shoes in my life.  It seems today’s women want to walk on either ten penny nails or bricks.  The first are uncomfortable and the second are hideous.  Give me a toe that is at least a little rounded, a lower heel, and no pain.  I finally found a pair on a clearance rack for $19.99 that was perfect.  I was beginning to think I was going to have to find a blacksmith.
    And about those ten penny nails—after learning why men like women in stiletto heels, I am surprised that today’s modern, “liberated”, woman would wear anything that makes a man objectify her in the worst way.  Fashion designers obviously have no respect for the women they dress.
    Funny that shoes in the Bible can be matters of respect, too.  Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground, God told both Moses (Ex 3:5) and Joshua (Josh 5:15).  Even today I am told that Muslims and several other Eastern religions take off their shoes as a sign that they are laying aside the pollution of the world to enter into a holy place.
    Are they really?  What about the olive oil stain on their sleeves from lunch?  What about the cigarette smoke soaked into the folds of their robes from an earlier encounter?  What about the everyday miasma we carry around with us from our environment, both in the home and out in the streets?  Of course they are still stained with their everyday lives.  Taking off the shoes is just a symbol of respect.  Does that make it wrong?
    In the West, we have a different symbol.  Men take off their hats.  They do it when they enter a room, when they greet someone, when the flag passes by, and during an outdoor prayer (it’s supposed to already be off indoors). According to the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer, the custom began when men took off their helmets to show they did not consider the person they were meeting a danger.  Thus it became a symbol of trust, and one can understand how not removing the hat could be considered an insult.  It still is.
    A certain generation likes to say that symbols do not count, that the only thing that really counts is the heart.  While it is true that the heart is the crux of the matter, I think I can show you that God still expects a few symbols from us too.
    But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless, Matt 22:11,12.  I won’t go into the parable, just notice this:  Jesus did not say the custom was wrong.  Instead, he knew everyone would understand the parable because in that society it was a sign of disrespect to show up at a wedding in something other than “a wedding garment.”  The garment was a symbol of respect for the occasion in that culture.
    God has always expected His people to know the difference between, in the wording of Scripture, the holy and the profane.  “Profane” does not mean crude and vulgar—it means having to do with common, ordinary life.
    The Levites were warned, you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die, Num 18:32.  Now that sounds serious.
    Ezekiel said of the priests in the restored Temple, They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, 44:23.  He also warned, This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut, 44:2.  As a symbol of respect for God, the door He entered was to remain shut and no one else could use it.
    And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood, Neh 8:5.  They showed respect for the Word of God by standing when it was read.
    Clearly, God expects some sort of symbolic respect for sacred things.  What does that mean for us today?  I am not sure.  Maybe it hasn’t been specified because God knew that this new covenant would be open not just to one group, but to all peoples.  What is respectful in one culture, may not be in another.  (Try belching out loud at a dinner party here in America.)
    In our congregation, we stand for the scripture reading.  Does that mean that everyone there has that much respect for the Word of God?  No.  For some it is just an outward sign.  They aren’t paying a bit of attention, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a sign of respect for the rest of us.  
    Take a few minutes today and think of the sacred things in your life.  Maybe that is a first step—our culture has become so “casual” that some people couldn’t even come up with a list of things that deserve that kind of respect.  We should be better than that.  These things do not have to be tangible like your Bible, though that might be a good one to add to the list—your Bible and how you treat it.  Do you just toss it around like a library book?
    As to the intangible, your marriage might be a good thing to show respect for in a visible way.  When our boys were little, they knew better than to ever sit between us at church.  That was just our little thing—it showed them that we were always one and they could never come between us.  I am sure you could think of another way to show respect to that God-ordained institution, one that means something to you too.
    Try to think of at least a few others.  Then think of ways to show that those things are sacred to you, not just some sort of mundane piece of life.  You might be surprised at how that one little sign of respect affects your whole attitude.

Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean…so that I am profaned among them, Ezek 22:26.

Dene Ward

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The Ad Man

1/6/2015 0 Comments

Have you noticed the number of commercials and advertisements for weight-loss products, nicotine patches, fitness equipment, and gym memberships?  The ad man is not dumb.  This is the first full week of resolutions.  It happens every year.
    Just think about the grocery flyer you see each week.  This month we see specials for diet foods.  February it will be chocolate, strawberries, and roses, and in March it will be corned beef and cabbage.  Candy, eggs, ham, and legs of lamb will top the list in April.  May through August will feature ribs, ground beef, steaks of all sorts, hot dogs, potato salad and baked beans—typical summer cook-out fare.  Then September will devote a whole page to notebooks, paper, and pencils.  And you know what the fall brings—chili beans, apples, turkeys, cranberries, sweet potatoes, and standing rib roasts.  And we all buy most of that “in season” don’t we?  Then we load our carts with salads, yogurt, and Lean Cuisines on January 1, and begin the whole sequence all over.
    They have us pegged.  They pay attention to our habits.  They even know when a trend is about to start so they can cash in from the beginning.  Low fat gave way to low carb, and now the buzzword is “organic.”  It seems to me that labeling food “organic” is a bit redundant, but that’s another topic.
    If men can figure us out that easily, why don’t we understand that our adversary can too?  He knows what will tempt us the most and when it will, and he is persistent.  We can get rid of him for a time, resist the Devil and he will flee from you, James 4:7, but he will always come back and try again.  Just like those ad men, he uses the things he knows will work, and is never afraid to branch out and try a new tack.  
    When you pick up that flyer in the Thursday paper, use it as a reminder to be careful.  Our lives are an open book, in more ways than one.

For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.  For whosoever is begotten of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith.  And who is he who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, 1 John 5:3-5.

Dene Ward

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The Quota System

1/2/2015 0 Comments

I have heard it all my life and never noticed the problem until recently.  “Do one good deed every day.”  How many New Year’s resolutions have you heard that include that phrase?  How many times have you heard people talk about trying to better themselves by doing “one good deed every day?”  How many speak as if they are proud of that very accomplishment?
    Then it struck me.  One good deed a day?  That is supposed to make me a good person?  One?  Hey!  If I get it done by 8 or 9 in the morning, I don’t have to worry about another one, right?  If I do 5 today, I can take the rest of the week off.  I’m not expected to work on the weekends surely. Something is terribly wrong if we think doing one good deed a day is a wonderful accomplishment for a Christian.
    Depart from evil, and do good; Seek peace, and pursue it. Psalm 34:14
    Trust in Jehovah, and do good…Depart from evil, and do good; Psalm 37:3,27.
    I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live. Eccl 3:12.
    But I say unto you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, Luke 6:27.
    But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased, Heb 13:16.    
      And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith. Gal 6:9,10.
    Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honor preferring one another; communicating to the necessities of the saints; given to hospitality. Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as in you lies, be at peace with all men. Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath of God: for it is written, Vengeance belongs unto me; I will recompense, says the Lord. But if your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Rom 12:9-10, 13-21.  
    Do I really think I can overcome evil with one good deed a day?
    Christians don’t work by the quota system.  They know they should be looking for good things to do, as well as reacting in good ways to things done to them, all day long, every day.  Yet even that is not enough to repay the debt we owe for our forgiveness.  
    I think we need to stop counting.

Dene Ward

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Wake Up Call

12/23/2014 0 Comments

When I was very small, my favorite song was “Wake Up, Little Susie.”  I am probably dating myself with that admission.  In case you are from a different generation, the song was about a young couple who fell asleep during their movie date, and were afraid of what people might think.  
    Psalm 103 is David’s version of the song—one he is singing to himself.  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, vv 1-2.  I found it difficult to see that “wake up” admonition, I admit.  But every commentator I checked, five of them, saw it clear as a bell.  One likened it to Psalm 42:5:  Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.  That one is much easier to see.  Why are you so depressed, he asks himself, when you have the salvation offered by God?  Now look again at 103:  Bless the Lord…and forget not his benefits.”
    For isn’t that exactly what we do?  We go along in our ordinary, normal lives, nothing important happens, nothing exciting happens, and we become complacent in our service and even a little despondent in our ordinariness, and forget what God has done for us.  But just think about this morning.  You woke up in your comfortable bed (check) in your comfortable house (check), possibly next to your beloved (check).  You ate a breakfast from a pantry and refrigerator full of possibilities (check).  You stood in front of a closet and chose from among all those clothes what you wanted to wear (check).  You might have gotten in your car (check) and driven to school or work or the store without mishap (check).  How many blessings is that already that you never even noticed?  How many more will you receive the rest of the day, and still not notice?
    “Forget not his benefits!” David reminds himself—and later on the people of Israel, and ultimately us.  Why is it that when something bad happens we will blame God, but never think to give Him credit for all the good we enjoy nearly every single minute of the day?  “Wake up and praise the Lord!”
    And then there is this:  while God gives us brethren to encourage us, David shows us that in the final analysis, we are responsible for our own rousing.  We cannot blame the church, we cannot blame the elders, we cannot blame our families if we fall into hopelessness and despair—it’s my business to see myself clearly, to notice when I need a nudge or a prod or even a kick in the rear.  And after I have awakened, then I will follow David’s example of leadership and wake others too.  
    Which is what this has been, I hope—wake up little Susie, or Joey, or Charlie, or Cathy, or whatever your name may be.  Do not forget the benefits of being God’s child.  Always count your blessings, no matter how trite that may seem.  David did.  He’s not a bad leader to follow.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change, James 1:17.
    
Dene Ward

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Automatic Pilot

12/4/2014 0 Comments

Did you brush your teeth this morning?  Are you sure?  Do you really remember it, or are you remembering yesterday morning, or a morning last week?  How many other things do we do automatically, without thinking?  How about those scary times when you have been driving 10 or 15 minutes and suddenly realize you don’t remember that stop sign half a mile from the house or anything else between there and here?
    How about your spiritual life?  How many things do we do automatically?  We have a tendency to condemn that sort of thing, acting without thinking, as if it is hypocrisy, but is that always the case?
    I have always been in the same place every Sunday morning of my life, barring illness or injury.  No, the physical location may not be the same, but anyone who knows me, knows that on Sunday mornings I am assembling with my brothers and sisters in the Lord at wherever I happen to be.  There is never any question what I will do on Sunday if I am at all able.
    I used to worry about falling asleep in the middle of my final prayer of the day.  Surely, “pillow talk” is a close, intimate form of communication.  In fact, it is one thing we miss in our marriage—you cannot whisper to a deaf man.  So why should I be remorseful about falling asleep while having a comfortable, private moment with my Father?  Yes, there are times for more formal, reverential prayers, but who else would I rather be speaking to in my last conscious moments of the day, and why should He be upset with me if I feel so comfortable and easy with Him?  It’s not like it’s the only time we speak.  It is, in fact, second nature for me to do so.
    “Second nature” is defined as an acquired behavior or trait that is so long practiced as to seem natural or inborn.  It comes from an old proverb, “Custom (or usage) is a second nature,” which was first recorded in 1390. 
    “First” nature, then, would be things we do instinctively, that are inborn.  When we are born again into the kingdom of God, it becomes our responsibility to change our behavior, practicing it so frequently, that it eventually becomes our “second” nature, something we do automatically, with hardly any thought at all, but which we had to learn. 
    In the beginning of my life as a Christian I must consciously make decisions about how to react to others and how to order my new life.  Eventually, though, if I am practicing these things on a regular basis, that should become easier and easier.  How long have I been a Christian yet I still fly off the handle, still say things I should not say, still lower myself to the level of the world by seeking revenge over the silliest things in the most childish ways?  I must not be working hard enough to change those habits, for that is what they are, and they can be changed with enough effort, and with the help of Christ.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me, Phil 4:13.
    This does not mean there will no longer be moments of weakness, times when I am more susceptible to my old behaviors.  But if those old behaviors are still constant in my life, where is the transformation Paul talks about in Romans 12?  Why have I not become more closely conformed to the image of his son, (Rom 8:29)?  Something about me is supposed to have undergone a permanent change!
    Certainly, I must have my mind on my prayers and the words I sing.  I must listen consciously and carefully to those who seek to edify me.  My worship must not be rote.  But there is something to be said for operating on automatic pilot in my spiritual life. At some point it must reach past what I do, and become a matter of who I am.  If this never happens, then something is missing, and I need to find it—and fix it—soon.

Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new, 2 Cor 5:17.

Dene Ward

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