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● Jer 13:23 . . Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.
Back in the mid 1960s-- when I was a young single guy around 24 years old
living solo in a tiny rented room in a family home's daylight basement --I
had lots of time to myself to think about things since I had no friends, nor
any kind of social contact whatsoever other than at work. I wasn't distracted
with a girl friend, nor by pals and beer buddies, nor by an obsessive hobby.
It was just me, my 1961 Volkswagen, and a 305 Honda motorcycle that I
rode all over northwest Oregon.
I thought about Hell a lot back in those days; and the very real possibility of
my ending up there. It occurred to me at the time that it would be a whole
lots easier to comply with God's wishes if only I were like Him instead of like
me. Doing bad is easy for me because I'm bad without thinking about it
whereas doing good is a fight against nature. If only I could do good as
naturally as God does good; I'd have it made.
Another thought crossed my mind back in those days. Let's assume that I
could somehow manage to be pious enough in this lifetime to qualify for
heaven. Then what? I was pretty sure I could never manage to be pious for
all eternity: possibly in this life, but certainly never in the next; no, I could
never keep it up forever. Sooner or later my true colors would show
themselves.
I envied people like Moses because he had heaven in the bag while I had no
clue about my future; though I was fairly sure that for me, Hell was pretty
much a foregone conclusion.
I didn't know it at the time, but I was very fortunate to be thinking those
kinds of thoughts because right around then I ran across a solution to my
problem in the Old Testament that says:
"I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the
countries, and I will bring you to your land. And I will sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you will be clean; from all your impurities and from all your
abominations will I cleanse you.
. . . And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you,
and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you
a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you and bring it about that
you will walk in My statutes and you will keep My ordinances and do them."
(Ezek 36:24-27)
Those promises were made to the Jews so of course I, being a Gentile,
couldn't expect God to let me in on them. But just think of the tremendous
advantages that passage speaks of. Whereas I am normally and naturally
impious, with those promises in hand I could become just the opposite, viz:
I could become normally and naturally pious. Ezek 36:24-27 really perked
me up and lifted my spirits because it gave me a light at the end of the
tunnel whereas before then, I had none.
● 2Pet 1:2-4 . . Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us
everything we need for life and piety through our knowledge of Him who
called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His
very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate
in the divine nature. (cf. Eph 2:11-22)
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