Publisher's Synopsis
A child's default nature at birth is a selfish one. He inherited it and his first few days after birth shows the display of such tendency of thinking only of himself. A selfish nature is a lower nature, it always puts himself first above everyone, an arrogant disposition, thinking that he is better than all else. This earthly nature has self-deceit, it must be him before others, a greedy disposition, believing he deserves a larger chunk of anything compared to his fellows. A child picks most of what he will later be in life from both parents and the immediate family environment in which he grew up. Anyone who grows up within a peaceful environment would most likely see staying out of trouble as the right way to live and follow that pattern all his life. A family that never knew peace dictates to the child that home is a battleground, so life is war.
The teenage years are critical years to be observed. It is a period of adventure. The child had learned so much that he wants to put as much as he can to the test. This period is so critical to the battle of his soul because the most alluring and gratifying suggestions would shape his mind, life, person and this change happen about this time of his life. Things happen so swiftly that if he is not constantly monitored, understood and emotionally corrected, he could overturn all he had learned since childhood to follow a new pattern completely off his family course. Once he forms his opinion about issues of life, he has set his sail, he most probably will continue with that lifestyle except there is divine intervention. The seeming failure of parents may not necessarily be because of what they did or failed to do. There is also a natural factor that is silent yet the most important factor in the forming and making of a man.
The second phase of life in adulthood, where important decisions about relationships and associations would be made. One of such landmark decisions is choosing a marriage partner. That decision is so important because it comes with attendant consequences. When a child matures with a selfish nature not dealt with, he imports that personality, -a "selfish-natured" individual, into the marriage. A couple whose lives will be dictated by the lower nature produces a union that will break away at the slightest eruption. This is because each person will always want it his or her way, and this is a reflection of what each one brings to the table, which is the nature that is hidden within.
The whole world desire the product of a higher disposition like love, compassion, peace, devotion, but we look for it on the shelves or the wrong nature. The earthly attributes are what man inherited, he did not bargain for it. The reality of the fallen man is that it cannot deliver on the promise of a good mien. Our search for good character in the lives of our children and the surrounding people should signpost us towards the cross and Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. A good disposition lives less for himself and more for others. He is considerate. Every of his action has a human face, which is genuinely and deeply concerned about how others feel, he is not only about what suits him at any moment.
When a man admits his inability to produce a good life from the default nature he acquired at birth, and he willingly surrenders his life to the Lordship of Jesus, he becomes a new creature completely. He is instantly granted access to the riches of heavenly nature. God bestows upon such the power to live His divine nature in our world. The world cannot know God's character because it does not have access to the Almighty one.
We are called to experience this nature of righteousness that we may then pass on the same, which we have experienced, to our world. We have been called to act as an extension of God's hand and His ways to our world.
