Living the Natural Life.

What is it to live a natural life? To live the natural life is to live in union with a beautiful, powerful God, as he created us. It is natural for us to find our life in and with God. It is not natural that we would try to live our lives independent of God. It is not natural for us to live independent of God’s grace and power. Sin is very unnatural for man. It leads to all kinds of distortions, corruptions and in this world, disease. People are then in dis/ease, and thus the culture of our time is a culture of anxiety.

People try to find themselves independent of God, and they find only remnants of darkness. Just as we were never intended or created to live independent of oxygen, so we were never intended to live independent of God. To find ourselves apart from God is like going to cars to find out what an automobile is. This is what some modern psychological approaches to therapy involve. Our life is a junkyard without God and is empty. (Romans 3:10-18). In our unnatural state, no one seeks God. It is only by the grace of God that someone seeks God.

The soul of man hungers for holiness, righteousness and goodness. This is the natural life, the life we were created to live, and until we find life in God, we are wandering around in a wilderness without direction and thirsty for life. However, God gave us free will, and we can choose to hide from God; He doesn’t overwhelm us with his presence so that we have no choice but to walk with him. That is why you must seek him with diligence to find him. As Dallas Willard has said, “If God did not hide from us, we could not hide from him.” However, one day his presence will be overwhelming on the day of judgment, and in the state a person is in, whether in Christ or not, will last for eternity. “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11)

Jesus came to redeem us from a life without him or cut off from him. He also came to redeem us so that we can again live the natural life in him. He came to redeem us from foolishness, pride, emptiness and destruction. Life in him is lived in his grace, and grace is the ability to be and do what we could not in our own strength and power. Grace also initially brings us into a relationship with him. As God’s word states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

When we become a Christian, we must learn to leave the old life behind and pick up the new life and walk in union with God. It is so easy to slip back to our old ways. Habits can be difficult to break and are only broken when replaced with good habits. Again, as God’s word says, “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). We can choose to live in the mind of the flesh or the mind of the Spirit as Christians.

Christian, be who you are. You have been given a new nature that allows you to live the natural life you were created to live in union with God. If you live in the flesh, your desires are for the flesh, and these are sinful corrupt desires. (see Ephesians 2:1-3; Galatians 5:19-21) It our desires and will are toward God, then we will live in our natural state that God created us to live in. However, we must be very careful to distinquish between desires and will. Our desires are not our identity. Our will is where our identity lies. Desires must be subordinated to what is good, if we are to walk with God in fullness. As God’s word says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). Our mind and will set our affections or desires.

As Christians, we have an inheritance of a life with God. The Apostle Paul exhorts us to live “To walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1). When we fail, we can go to God and ask for forgiveness and strength. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We don’t live like many Christians under the ministry of condemnation of self and others. We can go back to living the natural life in Jesus.

Is it natural for us to be sinful? No, of course not. (see also Matthew 12:33-37) It is natural for us to be in union with God and grow in love. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18)

Christian to be true to yourself in Christ. Non-Christians seek out the Lord and find him, for if you diligently seek, you will find him. Receive Him as your Saviour and surrender to him as Lord God. Jesus came to redeem you, and you can live in Christ by his grace and by his grace, you will become and live on a much higher plane than you could in your own self. Jesus invites you into a beautiful, powerful relationship with him. Then you will live the natural life in Jesus Christ, Saviour and Lord. When we live the natural life and give God glory for it, you will find your life a participant in God’s goodness and in his divine nature as God intended when you were created. (see also 2 Peter 1:3-11)