5.14.20
Noah Pagel
Ephesians 4:17-24
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
I have been fascinated by animals my whole life. I could go on and on about the thousands of animal facts I have stored in my brain. I like to study about how animals survive in this harsh world, but there is one species that confuses me. They have no claws, they are not strong, they cannot see in the dark, they can’t really do much of anything that would explain how they survived this long. Of course I’m talking about humans. According to evolution, we should have died a long time ago. We have no natural way of defending ourselves or hunting, but for some reason we exist. It makes no sense. However, we as Christians know that there are more powerful things at work here. God chose to not only create, but nurture us, a weak, stupid species. Animals, when nurtured, will obey everything their protector says, even if it means giving up their life, but humans time and time again turn away from and disappoint God. We deliberately disobey his commands, despite being completely dependent on him for our survival. We steal from each other, lie to each other, and kill each other. Humans are a cruel species, but God sees otherwise. He sees humans as the way they were meant to be, not the way they are now. In Ephesians 4: 17-24, Paul explains that, through Jesus, we can overcome the weakness of humanity and transcend into the new humanity, free from sin, just as God intended for us to be. I find comfort in that. We do not need claws or strength or night vision, because we have something much more powerful on our side. We, as humans, should strive to be more like him.
HHYG 