We all have come to earth with certain capacities. As descendants of Adam and Eve, one of those capacities is to sin, or in other words, to do bad things or to not do good things, causing a disconnect between us and God. This condition has certain consequences. Paul spoke of one. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). That natural, mortal condition is to do nothing, or do "evil." Doing nothing and/or doing "evil" is what is contrary to the nature of God, because it prevents us from progressing. One Brother Robert Millet wrote an article in the June 1992 Ensign magazine speaking of the natural man. He wrote, "So what characterizes the natural man? Simply stated, the natural man is the man who remains in his fallen condition; he has not experienced a rebirth." So how can we shed the natural man? King Benjamin gave the answer, and we'll break it down this way. Our journey to shedding that shell of the natural man is threefold: learn, change, and act."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 becoming 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."
1. Learn
King Benjamin first highlights two ways in which we begin to experience that spiritual rebirth that Brother Millet spoke of. 1) He (or she) "yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and 2) "putteth off the natural man" through embracing the Atonement of Jesus Christ. President Ezra Taft Benson once said something extremely profound about our relationship to Christ and His Atonement. He said, "Just as a man does not really desire food until he is hungry, so he does not desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ." The question that many non-believers ask is this: "Why do we need Christ?" The Lord himself answered that question:
"For the whole world lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin. And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me" (D&C 84:49-50). It is one thing to do nothing to shed the natural man and be stuck in a rut of not progressing because of seemingly petty sins. It is another to be "under the bondage of sin." Unfortunately, the nature of sin is such that it is often addictive. Some of those acts, such as drugs, alcohol, and pornography are physically and mentally addictive, to the point where our natural bodies yearn for more, even when our hearts are ready to give it all up. That is the beautiful thing about the Atonement. On a chilly spring evening in a garden in Jerusalem called Gethsemane, Jesus the Christ not only suffered for all the consequences of our sins, but in so doing was able to allow himself to remove and carry our burdens of sin so that we can change. As we learn of Christ and the extent to which His beautiful Atonement applies to our situation, we can have a greater capacity and a greater desire to begin to strip off that outer shell of the natural man and woman.
2. Change
The next step in this process comes naturally with our increasing knowledge and understanding of how the Atonement applies to us. It is through repentance. Something that we misunderstand about this process, however is this: repentance is less about correcting wrongs just because we're evil and need to be clean (though that is a major reason to flock to repentance), and more about changing ourselves by correcting those same wrongs. President Benson said, "The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change the environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." Repentance truly can change us. It's not just like a dirty shirt that gets washed, but can easily get dirty again. If we are changed by the atonement through full faith and repentance of our sin, it's like washing a shirt that then will never get dirty again. As we learn of Christ and the implications of the atonement, and make the determination to change as a result, those traits attributed to the natural man--selfishness, hate, pride--begin to be changed for the pure ones.
In an article on the children's learning website, Wonderopolis, the topic of a process in reptiles called ecdysis is discussed. This is the technical name for the shedding of skin. Specifically speaking of the process snakes, the writer says the following: "Snakes shed their skin to allow for further growth and to remove parasites that may have attached to their old skin. As a snake grows, its skin becomes stretched. Unlike human skin, a snake’s skin doesn’t grow as the animal grows. Eventually, a snake’s skin reaches a point where further growth is not possible." When we repent, we are going through our own spiritual ecdysis process. We are allowing for growth--spiritual growth--that could not be had otherwise. 3. Act
The following attributes, as we read in King Benjamin's address, should come rather naturally with our change. They are submissiveness, meekness, humility, patience, and charity. Submissiveness is the act of being ready to submit or yield to the authority of another; unresistingly or humbly obedient. Meekness is the condition of being righteous and long-suffering. Humility is a modest view of one's own importance in relation to God. Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. Charity is the pure love of Christ. What's the common factor between these attributes? We need to act in order to fully develop them. So many of us fail to complete the process of spiritual ecdysis and shedding the natural man or woman because we think that once we have a conviction of the Atonement and have repented we are like that invincible washed shirt. But the process requires further action. That action is making sure that we develop the attributes outlined by King Benjamin.
A tell-tale sign of whether or further action is working is how we feel. As we continue to act, we will feel a greater measure of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit will be far more evident in our lives. As Paul described, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23). Our "natural man" reactions of hate, indifference, pessimism, complaining, rudeness, and impatience will begin to be as the skin of a snake; we'll slide right out of that shell and realize that we have been changed. What we need to realize, however, is that this is not a one-time event. It requires constant attention, and consistent acting.
C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity, wrote, "This world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going round that some of us are someday going to come to life." This life is a test. We have natural challenges associated from our fallen, mortal state. I have been saying that "we" are the ones shedding the skin of the natural man. In truth, it would be more accurate to say that the Lord removes that skin if we let him. That falls in line with Lewis' quote. Our Heavenly Father and Our Savior, Jesus Christ, can only act as the sculptor if we stay still and let them do their work. It does require us to recognize those moments when we step off the workman's table. If we have a habit that is keeping us from progressing, we should remember these three steps--learn, change, act--if we want that weakness to become a strength:
1) LEARN by studying the ways to overcome,
2) CHANGE our heart and our attitude, and
3) ACT to develop attributes necessary to strengthen our characters.
I have written previously on goal-setting (see here). If you take a look there, you'll find some suggestions on how to properly set goals. It may be useful to think about as we look to start on that path to overcoming those preventative habits. Once we start on the path, trusting in faith that our Heavenly Father can teach that we may learn, mold that we may change, and gently nudge that we may act, we will be well on our way to discovering who we can truly become.
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