God's Commitment to Change Our Nature

God very much wants us to become converted. He wants us to learn and practice His way of life—to become sincerely and thoroughly committed to it. He promises us His help if we willingly follow His instructions. Through His Spirit He will empower us to “put on the new man [the person we’re meant to be] . . . created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24, emphasis added throughout). His purpose is to change us, to convert us from the inside, from the heart.

As we will see more about, humanity at large is in rebellion against God, our fleshly minds being hostile to Him (Romans 3:10-12, 23; 8:7). How, then, do we become righteous in the eyes of God? Jesus supplies the answer: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17). And that includes all of us.

The Bible explains why mankind so desperately needs spiritual healing. It also explains how that healing can come about. It reveals God’s efforts to heal the character defects we generally label as human nature. It begins by showing how humanity became spiritually ill. And it ends with spiritually healed human beings inheriting eternal life as the children of God made perfect.

In the Bible we read of God’s resolve to save us from the spiritual malaise that has plagued us throughout history. Scripture explains the source of our behavioral and spiritual problems. It contrasts God’s divine nature with our human nature and describes His plan to change some of our most basic attitudes. It reveals God’s commitment—expressed in His “exceedingly great and precious promises”—to make us “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Two major factors shape all that is wrong with human nature. First is the weakness inherent in our fleshly body and mind. Our thoughts and emotions are directly linked to our fleshly impulses and desires. We are born with these. But we are born with neither the knowledge nor the power to properly manage them.

Second, our natural impulses and desires are affected and manipulated by external pressures. Negative influences come from many sources—familial, educational, recreational, cultural and spiritual, to name a few. But they have one thing in common: They tempt us according to our basic instincts and desires.

Our parents can teach us valuable spiritual knowledge, especially if their understanding is based on the standards and values of God. But only our Creator can give us the power to rightly manage our thoughts and attitudes and resist the temptations that bombard us. Therefore the process of becoming righteous is a miraculous process that requires the direct and active intervention of God.

He begins with calling us by opening our minds to understand the Scriptures. Then He proceeds with turning our lives around—if we willingly respond to His calling and cooperate with Him.