In Africa once a traveler managed to capture a baby tiger. He brought the little thing home with him hoping that he could tame him. He gave the little kitten no meat, and he would talk to it and stroke its fur, until the young tiger gradually became used to him. The time came when it would follow him around like a dog, and he began to think that his kindness had completely overcome its wild animal nature. It grew to be a fine young tiger.
One day, however, as he was walking through the garden, he scratched his hand slightly against a thorn. He thought nothing of it, and a few minutes later he bent down to stroke his pet.
To his surprise, the young tiger became uneasy and excited, and refused to be quieted. He allowed it to lick his hand as he had often done before, but no sooner had the tiger touched the scratch than it leaped upon the man and bore him to the ground. The smell and taste of blood had awakened the beast’s wild nature, and had it not been for the thought and courage of a servant, the man would have lost his life. As it was, he was badly mauled and bore the marks to the end of his life.
All that man’s efforts to change the tiger’s nature were in vain.
The Bible tells us that we, too, have a nature that cannot be tamed, a heart that is desperately wicked (Jer. 17:99The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)). We may try to be good and do better, to turn over a new leaf, seek to be kind, honest, and religious perhaps, but none of these things make us any better sinners than we are before God.
God knows that nothing can be done with our old nature. What we need is a new one. We need to be “born again” by His Spirit (John 3:33Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)). When this takes place in our souls, He gives us a new nature, His own — pure, sinless, holy — which delights only in good, and shuns evil.
The Lord Jesus died to put not only our sins away, but also our old self, to make us like Himself and to give us a new life which delights in Him and heavenly things.
ML-10/08/1978