We often think only of the physical term of falling as in tumbling down or losing one’s balance and hitting the ground. We are not really reminded of our fallen nature unless we attend church or here it referenced by someone. Even then it is not really addressed in depth. We for the most part are living within or under a fallen nature. I used a common commercial from TV here to capture your attention. I believed that most people are familiar with it or remember the commercial when these words are said out-loud.
My children often made fun of the over dramatization of the helpless woman. It was my job to show that the demonstration was more important than the acting. It took a while, but they could see the point of the commercial. Falling down is serious and not a humorous act. (There is, and I question the word usage of comedy as applied to slapstick which is considered funny to some) I am referring to the damage that is done to someone when they have fallen.
I have had to live a long time to find the difference between our spiritual fallen condition, and physical condition. I know that you think that it should be obvious to us that the falling down or ending up on the ground is a physical thing only. Even this could still be related to the more important condition of our spiritual nature. How? If I become an alcoholic or drug addict, I will often fall down drunk or drugged. We don’t connect the two together because we don’t really understand the consequences for following this nature or guide.
Yes, it is that fallen nature we are serving inside that for the most part dictates what we do outwardly to ourselves and others around us. I could cause physical reactions from my children whenever I lifted my arm or hand upwards. They would duck or cringe in anticipation of me hitting them for some infraction they might have done knowingly or unknowingly. My parents had the same power to cause us to react involuntarily. Our spiritual poverty is also another way of speaking or thinking of ourselves as fallen beings.
My goal in writing this is to give you some references that might help you see that it is our fallen nature that is determining our future actions and decisions. We need to focus some attention on this silent but dangerous nature. When I thought of the title of this article I could see clearly that UP was the opposite of DOWN and moving UP was towards Heaven and God.
This is why I added the words “from here.” Where we are in life in our spiritual nature is the distance to God or Heaven. The farthest distance to God is not measured by physical measurement, but by humbleness and admittance to our fallen nature also called sinful nature.
This is a new concept for some. I do not say that it is the only way to have a relationship with God. This is however a very important process if you want to end serving your fallen nature and be renewed with a new spirit. The fallen nature is our serving sin, knowingly or unknowingly.
We have grown with this state of being and for the most part of lives do not see it clearly as to what is really guiding us. We serve blindly this master and only through the grace of God can we be set free from enslavement. How can you look in a mirror or why would you even try to see this nature? How would you recognize it? You call it YOU, as I did for over forty years. I saw what I hated about my face that looked like my parents; I saw someone who nobody liked. I saw only what this nature had trained me to see.
I did not, nor could I have seen the real master or real nature of what I called myself. I did the bidding of the thoughts that provided the wrong actions to whatever problem I was having at the time. I really did not have much choice as there were not many in my life that ever really gave a care about me. I followed my thoughts, or as I saw it, this was solutions my thinking was giving me. Somehow I felt I was always in charge and usually took the punishment for not really knowing my fallen nature was my guide.
Our fallen nature is when we want to hit someone for doing something we don’t like; or when we hope something bad happens to those we don’t like; or when we make up lies about others to make ourselves look good; or when we hit our children because they are not perfect and make mistakes; or when we think someone does not deserve something; or when we judge others for any reason. These are but a smidgen of what power our fallen nature has to make us really not nice people.
Everyone does it, so you can’t be all that bad for doing it also, or can you? I thought daily of revenge, or I wrapped it in righteous anger, oh sure, like”Righteous “anger and I ever really met. I wanted to believe I was right and that my anger was justified. Don’t we all want to be right about how we think and act around others? How honest was I with myself? Well, it took more than forty years to really get to know my true fallen nature. It has taken another twenty years to learn how to live without it as my guide.
Forgiveness will renew your spirit, and remove your service to the fallen nature you were born a slave to. It is never too late to get UP from DOWN if you know how to see that UP is the only way you can go from DOWN! I hope I have not been too abstract in trying to show you that there is always a new beginning if you look for it!
Barbara L. Gonzalez ponderland@charter.net
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