Man's Two Natures!

Every born again believer has two natures that live inside.  Once they have trusted Christ as their Saviour, they receive a new nature.  A nature that is imparted to them through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God.  II Corinthians 5:17 declares, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things have become new."  At the very moment of salvation the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the believer, unfortunately, the old sin nature, also know as the flesh, still dwells in the believer too.  It would be wonderful to become a child of God and become perfect and never have to struggle with sin, but we understand from God's Word and our own experience, that is not the case.  Our two natures will conflict with each other until we lay this earthly tabernacle down in death.  The Apostle Paul understood this conflict in the book of Romans Chapter 7.  Take time to read this chapter and understand the struggle that raged within Paul.  It is the same struggle that every believer must contend with.  How do we allow the new nature to win the struggle, as we strive to become Christ-like?  Romans 6:8 teaches us that we are crucified with Christ.  The old nature has been put to death.  Sin no longer has to have victory in our lives.  We don't have to be in bondage to our old nature.  The story is told of an old, Native American Chief that had two dogs, one black and one white.  Someone asked the Chief which of the dogs would win in a fight.  The one I feed, replied the chief.  It's the same in our life.  The nature that we feed will have dominance in our life.  We don't have to be a slave to sin.  We have the very presence of God living within us and the Word of God.  Spend time today feeding your new nature and keeping the old man dead and buried.