Romans 11:24a For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree:

What is the nature of man? Actually it is no different than anything else in nature. All living things, animal and flora strive for the survival of the species, to take seed, grow, consume and scatter its own seed.

Flora spreads until its nature can no longer overcome the nature of the elements within its path. You can see this as trees disappear at an altitude of about 4,400 feet. Flora is only adaptable within its nature. Animals adapt their behavior within limits. Man is the most adaptable and has changed his environment, but not his nature.

The wild nature of man has adapted but still exists. With man, the survival of the fittest has given way to the survival of the most cunning, the most manipulative, the most ruthless. Man’s selfish interests will spread like seeds on the wind, taking root wherever it can. In this man is like flora, something has to stop his selfish aggressive propagation.

Man unlike any other animal has the ability to forsake his wild nature and take upon himself the divine nature. Man’s divine nature is a gift from God by faith in Jesus Christ. While man has access to the divine nature, we don’t always employ it. Sometimes we answer to our base nature.

Romans 7:22-23 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

It is difficult to always be on guard against our nature. It takes time to change. The last of the fruits of the Spirit to manifest itself is self-control. Do not be disheartened if it has not yet blossomed. Do not frustrate yourself in your walk. This happens to us all.

Our expectations of progress is not what God measures. God looks to His faithful Son and His progress in you. We should do the same.

Romans 7:24-25a O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Zephaniah 1:12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.

I would not be surprised if you have not read or remember this verse. Zephaniah is a minor prophet and not well read. I believe this one verse is worth revisiting from time to time. It speaks to me every time I read it. Not that I have a new understanding, but rather that I need to be reminded and encouraged.

Many are not aware of the meaning and significance of lees. It is a crusty result of fermentation, changing grapes to wine. Lees settle to the bottom and just lays there. If it were stirred up, it would not be good for the wine.

I think of myself as wine, having changed. My lees are still down there, at the base of who I was before Christ. Its presence is a clear indication that I have changed. Stirring up the old man will do nothing but make my “wine” bitter.

The difficulty lays in the settling on the lees. If we look at the initial change as being sufficient, that we have lees to indicate we have changed, then we run the risk of not becoming the better wine. If you remember Jesus first miracle of turning water into wine, John 2, the bridegroom saved the best wine for last. Wine that settles on the lees does not become the better wine.

We should not settle for good enough. That is like saying salvation doesn’t do anything for me until I die. That is not true. Salvation is new every morning. So how do we get to be the better wine?

2 Corinthians 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

To the end of Zephaniah 1:12 be not a heart that says God will not do anything.

In you He will.