Subject: Order of occurance |
Bible Note: It's difficult to say. I would have to say it's a little of both because you're coupling our act of being "born again" which is certainly passive and God's act of regeneration which is certainly active on His part. A person could compare this to the process of making a clay pot. God is the Potter. If we'll allow ourselves to be submitted completely to His Will, we realize our weak, feeble attempt at being a good person is comparable to a very poor, sorry looking clay pot, not even worthy of being put on a shelf. But God takes that sorry excuse of a clay pot and completely reduces it to a new lump of fresh new clay. He then proceeds to mold us over the entire balance of our lives into a fine clay pot, covering all of our inherent defects with His Son's blood. Thus we're put on the shelf of the world to show God's light in our lives and attract more clay pots to do similarly and submit themselves to God's Masterhood. So you can see, we have very, very little to do in this process thus we should see ourselves as being passive. However, God takes a very active role in this process as He molds us, guides us and helps us through the troublesome periods in our lives. He does this mostly through His Word but also with the Holy Spirit that lives within us as His children. One more point, we can draw from this illustration or analogy. Sometimes, when the devil lusts for our soul and we give in to his temptations, that could be compared to another blemish or a crack in our clay pot. We must see ourselves in need of repenting to God and ask for His forgiveness AND His aid in repairing that crack so as to ward off the devil's temptations. This is can also be seen as that refining process as described in Rev 3. Sometimes that refining process can be quite painful but it's well worth the end result. I hope this is clear to you. I'd be interested in your response. God bless. Rowdy |