The Natural Man


           
Mosiah 3:19 says, “For the natural man is an enemy of God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”
            The natural man is the hardest things to overcome, at least for me. We have these desires that may not line up with the gospel and it is hard to veer away from what Satan is tempting us with. Satan uses a great tool—the world—to entice us and tempt us, to do anything that could lead us further away from the teachings of the Jesus Christ. What I love about this scripture, is that is says we need to become as a child. Children are unquestionably the closest thing to heaven. They are pure beings. They haven’t been corrupted from the world/Satan as we have as adults. This obviously doesn’t mean children can’t have difficult childhoods. I am in no way insinuating that being a child just frees you from a hard life.
            Patience—my biggest flaw and weakness—is something that I will ALWAYS struggle with. As the saying goes, “Don’t EVER pray for patience.” You’ll get patience alright, but not in the way you were hoping for! Children are as close to Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven that you can get. I hope that as we go through life, and experience it’s tragedies, trials, and triumphs, we will always remember, to be full of love, to be humble, and the submit our will to God.
            “As you submit your will to God, you are giving Him the ONLY thing you can actually give Him that is really yours to give.” -Elder Neal A Maxwell

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