Putting Off The Natural Man
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, 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." (Mosiah 3:19). In our daily struggle against our natural tendencies towards fear, laziness, disobedience, pride, and rebellion, it can often feel like we are only delaying the inevitable. No matter how hard we try, we will fail. It's practically guaranteed. So, why struggle? What is the point of trying to obey God's laws if we are inevitably going to break them? What is the point of trying to truly forgive someone if we are only going to eventually in a moment of pain throw it back in their faces? The key to cease being an enemy of God and instead becoming a saint does not lie in defeating or vanquishing or eradicating the natural man or natural woman inside of us. We may become saints by putting off the natural man, by delaying our inevitable defeat. We are not meant to overcome utterly our natural weaknesses and imperfections in this life. The best we can hope for is to delay our natural inclinations towards selfishness and stubbornness for as long as possible. It is in these delays, however long or short, when we can try with all of our might to yield to the enticings of the Spirit, to become submissive, humble, meek and full of love and thus become a little more like true saints. After a gloriously beautiful moment of personal revelation, we will eventually find ourselves doubting our Heavenly Father and His love for us. After an amazing day of feeding the homeless, we will eventually look down our noses and judge in our hearts the beggars holding their hands out on the side of the street. But although we all eventually fall back down, that does not mean the moments where we stood tall and bright and valiant are worthless or wasted. As the Vision says to Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron - "Vision: Humans are odd. They think order and chaos are somehow opposites and try to control what won't be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that. Ultron: They're doomed. Vision: … Yes. But a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. It's a privilege to be among them." We don't build a sand castle or cook an amazing meal or belt out a tune on Karaoke night because it will last forever. When we put off the natural man or natural woman and radiate love and light and goodness and holiness, however briefly, it is no less beautiful because it does not last. When Peter eventually fell into the water, it was no less of a miracle that he had the purity of faith to walk on water before he fell. And besides, Christ was there to immediately swoop down and save Him the moment He cried out. Christ will likewise be there to swoop down and save us the moment we cry out for His help after we have fallen. As inevitable as our defeat will always be in this life, Christ's triumph over the natural man and woman, even over death and hell, is infinitely more inevitable. We only have to keep putting off and delaying our natural weaknesses and imperfections for long enough for Christ to have the ultimate and final and everlasting victory. I know that we all have the capacity to pick ourselves back up after we've fallen time and time again and to put off the natural man and woman for a few seconds more each and every time. Our moments of righteousness and sainthood are not beautiful because they last. There is and will always be Grace in our failings and there will eventually come a day when we have to put off the natural man and woman no more.
