Changing the Nature

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 16, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 39.

Changing the Nature.

ESTRANGED as man is from God, perverse as he is in thought and action, and with all his accumulated vileness, it would seem a hopeless task to change his nature, but it can and has been done, and is being done continually. This change does not come through the process of taming or by the constraints of force, but by instructing the mind and conscience together with the spirit and power of God. Man that has this change wrought in him is a new creature; his form is the same, but he has got back the image of God. Christ is formed within him, and there is a radical change, and now he is no longer a child of the devil, but is a child of God.

But I want you to bear in mind the fact that thousands have only an apparent change, as their life and works make manifest. They have the same love for the world they ever had. They are not satisfied with a trade unless they have the best of the bargain. They are just as shrewd at laying plans to amass wealth as any one. If there is a change, where is it? When angels come to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, do you think you could persuade them to accompany you to the opera or theater or dance? Did Christ recommend any such thing to his followers? No; he told them, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." The love of God and the love of the world cannot go together, any more than you can carry fire and water in the same vessel.

Man is a sinner and loves sin, but when the change takes place that makes him a child of God, this change is apparent to all who know him. Any one who has this change is careful to avoid all appearance of evil. He will adhere to all the precepts of the Bible as the law of his life. If the Bible tells him to dress plainly, he will do it. He will look upon pride and vanity as things that God hates, and he will hate them.—Gospel Banner.