I have an alarm clock. Well, to be honest, I have a iPhone with an alarm clock program. I have the ability to set an alarm clock to wake me up at whatever time I want to wake up. This is a pretty cool ability. I also tend to get up whenever the alarm rings. Also a cool thing.
But I hate it.
Okay, maybe I'm being a little harsh. I greatly dislike it. I dislike having to set an alarm to get up on time. Why can't I just wake up? Well, because of nature. My natural tendency, when asleep, is to sleep for quite awhile. My tendency when I awake without an alarm is to stay in bed and go back to sleep.
There is a war going on here. The war is between my nature (sleep) and my need to get up in the morning. The only way to make me get up when I need to get up is to defeat nature with an alarm.
Isn't this a perfect illustration of our lives? On one level, we all want to "be natural," to do "what comes naturally," to "avoid being artificial." On another level. we realize that our nature is not really very good for getting anything done. By nature, I would never write a brief or research an issue. By nature, I would never do anything that is really worth doing. Yet, we live in a world that tells us to "be more natural."
This is the eternal struggle of the Christian and, even, of the thinking non-Christian. We must do what we do not naturally want to do. We do not naturally want to go to everything our children want to do. We do not naturally want to do the work we are given to do. We do not naturally obey authorities (check the speeding all around you). We do not naturally take care of our obligations or fulfill our duty.
Scripture makes clear that we, by nature, were "children of wrath." Eph. 2:3. Our nature is to be self-indulgent, to do "what we want" rather than "what we ought." We must constantly work to put off what is natural and to adopt that which is spiritual. We must do what we can to avoid sleeping all the time.
My alarm is a reminder to me, every day, that I must begin with the right frame of mind. I must understand that my natural desire (to stay in bed) is not the right desire at all. I must keep my mind about me, knowing that my instincts and natural tendencies are not trustworthy.
Thanks be to God, who is making me over to be like his Son, who could do by nature that which I can only do by training.
But I hate it.
Okay, maybe I'm being a little harsh. I greatly dislike it. I dislike having to set an alarm to get up on time. Why can't I just wake up? Well, because of nature. My natural tendency, when asleep, is to sleep for quite awhile. My tendency when I awake without an alarm is to stay in bed and go back to sleep.
There is a war going on here. The war is between my nature (sleep) and my need to get up in the morning. The only way to make me get up when I need to get up is to defeat nature with an alarm.
Isn't this a perfect illustration of our lives? On one level, we all want to "be natural," to do "what comes naturally," to "avoid being artificial." On another level. we realize that our nature is not really very good for getting anything done. By nature, I would never write a brief or research an issue. By nature, I would never do anything that is really worth doing. Yet, we live in a world that tells us to "be more natural."
This is the eternal struggle of the Christian and, even, of the thinking non-Christian. We must do what we do not naturally want to do. We do not naturally want to go to everything our children want to do. We do not naturally want to do the work we are given to do. We do not naturally obey authorities (check the speeding all around you). We do not naturally take care of our obligations or fulfill our duty.
Scripture makes clear that we, by nature, were "children of wrath." Eph. 2:3. Our nature is to be self-indulgent, to do "what we want" rather than "what we ought." We must constantly work to put off what is natural and to adopt that which is spiritual. We must do what we can to avoid sleeping all the time.
My alarm is a reminder to me, every day, that I must begin with the right frame of mind. I must understand that my natural desire (to stay in bed) is not the right desire at all. I must keep my mind about me, knowing that my instincts and natural tendencies are not trustworthy.
Thanks be to God, who is making me over to be like his Son, who could do by nature that which I can only do by training.