My favorite fictional books are not necessarily the ones with the most elaborate storylines, but rather, the ones with most character development.
The characters I enjoy most are those that the author takes the greatest effort to make most realistic. I especially love the characters that the author gives wonderful qualities to, so that you love them, and terrible qualities, so that you don’t.
Why do I enjoy characters like that so much? To me, they are the greatest representation of reality. Isn’t that a description of Christians? At our best, we shine forth the light of Jesus. At our worst, we can behave like one of the devil’s rebellious angels.
James, speaking of this conflicting nature, uses the example of the human tongue to illustrate his point and says in James 3:9,
9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men…
James provides a good example of the struggle that Christians continually battle with. Paul is perplexed by the same thing. He says in Romans 7:15 & 18-19
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate… 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
Paul is coming to grips with something that every Christian eventually comes to grips with; The fact that no matter how hard we try, in this life, we will never be completely free of our sinful nature.
Rex and I witnessed the two-fold nature of man when we were driving to Westview Boys Home. On the highway between Lawton, OK and Altus, OK, we were driving the dying church van with our hazard lights on at a whopping 30 miles per hour in the right lane.
A pickup pulled up beside us in the left lane and motioned for me to roll down my window. When I did, the man driving the pickup asked if we were okay and asked if we needed any help. We told him we were fine.
Before he could pull away from driving beside us, another pickup drove up behind him and was apparently very upset that he had been forced to slow down. The man that slowed to check on us changed lanes and was then driving in front of us to let the other driver pass.
As the other driver passed, he swerved into the left lane, appearing to attempt to run the man that slowed for us off of the road. There was also some sign language involved in the altercation. The angry driver then began to speed away.
Much to mine and Rex’s surprise, the good Samaritan then gave chase to the angry driver and attempted to run him off of the road. The pickups then engaged in high-speed lane changes until our good Samaritan lost control and drove off of the road.
He drove down a grassy center median and up the other side into oncoming lanes of traffic, which, fortunately, were completely empty. His pickup spun around in the highway a couple of times before going off of the road again, his front wheel breaking free from his pickup.
Our good Samaritan turned road-rager got out of his pickup, waved to Rex and I that he was okay and Nathan called the police to report the accident.
This was a sad turn of events, but a good illustration. The man lived out the second greatest commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39), moments before flying into a rage.
What’s the solution to this inconsistency? A constant and continual denial of my will and surrender to the will of Jesus. One of my favorite quotes, and I’ve heard it in many similar variations, is, “As a Christian, I am not sinless, but because of Jesus, I now sin less.”
Keep pressing on to the goal church! Someday, God will heal our inconsistent nature, until then, the blood of Christ will continually make up for all that we lack.
Much love!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
