Rise Above the Natural Man

How do we receive joy in being a disciple of Christ?

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13)

The idea about salt is that it gives flavor to whatever it is put in. What is salt to be used for when it has lost its taste?

To be a disciple of Christ, we have to be like salt. To add flavor to any situation is an essential characteristic.

There is what is called the “natural man”. Nature, as we know it, acts upon the most basic of instincts. Take the animals for instance; they eat when they are hungry, they sleep when they are tired, they do their business wherever they want, because that is what their natural instinct tells them to do.

The natural man also has these instincts. The natural man will do whatever it wants to do as long as it feels right to the senses.

As spiritual sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, we are not just the natural man. We don’t have to rely on basic instincts because we are more complex than we can imagine. When we go hungry, we don’t just eat anything we see; we can prolong staying awake for greater purposes than sleep, and we can put off anything that might seem right to the senses if we know it is not right to the soul.

We receive joy when we know we are doing the will of the Lord and that He is pleased with us. And when the Lord is pleased, we feel it in our lives that we are living exactly the way He wants us to live. Happiness from living a natural state of life is fleeting, it will never last, but happiness from living God’s way of life will always be eternal.