Why Are Things The Way They Are?

You Can Lead a Horse to Water, but You Can't Make Him Drink

I hope to make a video on this same subject but today I’m going to write about it.  If you know me and my wife you know that we have had legal guardianship of a young man since October 2021.  He was 11 years and 8 months old when we accepted him into our home.  He is 15 years and 2.5 months old now so he’s been with us just over 3.5 years.   We have had a big impact in a positive way on his reading skills, vocabulary skills, and education in general. Just a little background, we tested him when he came to us and he tested at the 1st grade level so we decided to home school him.  Today, he is working on 6th grade material and even though it’s been an uphill battle, we’ve been able to make progress.  But we only made progress with the things we have control over like his learning environment, a safe place to live, social circles, church family and things of that nature.  The things we had had almost zero impact on is his moral behavior, his moral compass, his world view.  Without going into a lot of detail you can probably imagine that his life before he came to us wasn’t the greatest.  One minor example is that he referred to himself as "trailer park trash" or that others referred to him as "trailer park trash".  I say minor, because there was a lot more extreme things that he endured.  It seems, no matter what my wife and I do to set him on the right moral path he chooses not to change his “old or previously taught” ways.  It has definitely been a struggle to show him and tell him the right path to take and every time we think we make progress we are proven wrong.  So, when I came upon a book titled, “Life At The Bottom” it caught my attention.  Now, I’ll be straight forward, I've only read the introduction and the first few chapters of the book and they are so relevant to what Kim and are dealing with concerning this young man that I’m eager to continue the book.  But, I wanted to share what I’ve read so far.

The title is a good indication of what the book is about.  In simple terms it’s about the underclass and about the underclass in the United States. According to the author, Theodore Dalrymple, the common threads for the underclass are that they live by: violence, crime, and Degradation.  Another common denominator is that people that fall into this category never accept blame or take responsibility for their bad behavior. In fact they often blame inanimate objects or authority figures for actually what I consider very stupid reasons. The thing that i want to mention is that life at the bottom is not caused poor economic status like a lot of people think. Again, if you know me, I often state that everything comes back to the Bible and this is no different.  We live in a fallen world and we a neck deep in a spiritual war. In reality, there are so many references within the Bible that touch on this subject that I could easily close my eyes, open the Bible and put my finger on a verse and chances are very good that it would relate in some form or fashion.  But for this article I’ll keep it to the verses that came to mind when I was reading the book.   The first verse that came to mind was John 10:10 were Jesus says, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”.  This verse, in other words could be said to be the difference of no hope vs hope.  Basically, it's eye opening because it becomes very evident who these people living at the bottom follow and who their master is. And that that brings be full circle back to the spiritual war that we were all born into.  And, since we live in a fallen world and we all were born sinners and initially fall under the authority of Satan, the ruler of this world as referenced in:

John 12:31 

“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out”.

John 14:30

“I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me”.

John 16:11

“Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged”.

Ephesians 2:2 

“in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience”.

2 Corinthians 4:4. 

“whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them”.

We have to make a conscience change in our ways by putting off the old man and putting on the new man. Or, in other words, give or will over to God's will. Ephesians 4:17-29 descibes it quite well:

Put off the Old Man

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:  that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,”

Put on the New Man

“and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.  Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another.  “Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.  Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers”.

We Must Also Repent of our Sin

As we shed the old man and put on the new man we must repent of our sins.  You might ask what exactly does repent mean? According to:

Thomas Watson, repentance is a turning from sin.

  Charles Spurgeon says it like this, “repentance is a hatred of sin”.   D. L. Moody put it this way, “repentance is turning right about and forsaking sin”. 

George Whitefield had this to say, “… repentance is an entire forsaking of sin…”. 

Additionally, the Greek word repentance is interpreted:  “A change of mind that includes a decisive, turning from sin to God…”

True Repentance and Accepting Jesus as your Savior Brings Immediate Change

When you truly repent, you are immediately changed from the old ways, the old man, to the new ways, the new man.  But, talk is cheap because if it doesn’t include a heart change then there really is no repentance and no transformation from the old man to the new man. Simply put, justification is not a process.  You don’t  gradually give up sin and then become saved-that would be salvation by works instead of salvation by faith.  Regeneration is an instantaneous act accomplished by God‘s grace and your faith in God‘s grace, absolutely not by your individual works.

May You Always Walk in the TRUTH!