The Nature That Enslaves The Heart (an ontological meditation on salvation)
"The longest foot in the world is is the distance between the mind and the heart,unless bridged by the Holy Spirit" ~ Claudine Boutros
The legnth is only significant because it is impossible for us to create love or faith in our hearts for the God that we see in the creation and in the gospel. When speaking of these things I have found it helpful to refer to this inability that is really a moral inability by talking about our natural appetites. That is, you cannot will yourself or choose to like something that tastes bad to you. That is because your appetites are not determined by your will, but by your nature. If therefore, your nature is changed so will your appetites be.
What I believe the Bible teaches is that we are by nature sinful, and because of that the appetites of our mind are toward sin and away from God. That is, God as He really is, is so repulsive to the sinful heart that it cannot love Him or believe in Him. This is why we need our nature changed so that we will no longer be children of wrath by nature (Ephesians 2:3), but partakers of the divine nature (1 Peter 1:4). Praise be to God therefore, who by His Holy Spirit and through resurrection power has begotten us again by His grace and given us capacities to know Him, Love Him, and believe in Him!
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).
The legnth is only significant because it is impossible for us to create love or faith in our hearts for the God that we see in the creation and in the gospel. When speaking of these things I have found it helpful to refer to this inability that is really a moral inability by talking about our natural appetites. That is, you cannot will yourself or choose to like something that tastes bad to you. That is because your appetites are not determined by your will, but by your nature. If therefore, your nature is changed so will your appetites be.
What I believe the Bible teaches is that we are by nature sinful, and because of that the appetites of our mind are toward sin and away from God. That is, God as He really is, is so repulsive to the sinful heart that it cannot love Him or believe in Him. This is why we need our nature changed so that we will no longer be children of wrath by nature (Ephesians 2:3), but partakers of the divine nature (1 Peter 1:4). Praise be to God therefore, who by His Holy Spirit and through resurrection power has begotten us again by His grace and given us capacities to know Him, Love Him, and believe in Him!
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).
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