Mosiah 3:19 - The Natural Man
The other day, I heard my coworkers talking about their 21st birthdays. The youngest one of them all mentioned that she didn't go out drinking that night because she spent it with her family. Then one of the ladies said, "What! It's just unnatural to be sober on your 21st birthday!" I about tipped over in surprise (can you imagine that sight?). Still today I can't believe she could say something like that, something that sounds so ignorant and insensitive to others standards and intolerant of lifestyles different from hers. I understand she was just joking, but as a friend of mine says, "A joke is always half true."
The first thing I thought after collecting my thoughts was this scripture:
For the anatural bman is an cenemy to God, and has been from the dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he eyields to the enticings of the Holy fSpirit, and gputteth off the hnatural man and becometh a isaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a jchild, ksubmissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
This verse - this whole sermon - inspires me more with each reading. This natural man is the one who leads me to do stupid things, or not do smart things, or just do nothing at all when only a little effort is required. I look back and realize that most of the bad things that have come into my life have come because I am not doing the things listed in the last part of that verse. Recently I've seen a resurgence of that mentality in my daily life, and I think this experience helped me to realize that I was beginning to slack.
Plus, I saw some hope in it as well. The 21-year-old didn't go drinking for her birthday. Perhaps that long-time tradition is fading out. Or maybe not, but I can hope, right?
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