Do you remember having some positive traits as a child, which you have lost or tempered as you have gotten older. I am not referring to endearing childish behavior. I am referring to traits such as being loving, sensitive, caring, affectionate, trusting (not gullible), thankful, courteous, respectful, interested in God and heaven and pleasing other people? And the list goes on.
Sadly, most people leave some of their most positive traits behind as they get older. They equate the more innocent characteristics with naivete and immaturity. This is why I differentiate these qualities from childishness. "Goodness" is not childishness, though it may be childlike. Remember, Jesus commended little children for their faith and said that adults cannot enter the kingdom of God unless they become childlike in faith.
It is true that we were all conceived with a sinful nature, which explains why children do not need to be taught to lie, get angry, covet, steal. But the carnal nature is not the whole person. Children are also born with God's grace, which makes them acceptable to God until they knowingly choose to do that which is wrong (aka sin) and they are born with a redeemable human nature, which has a desire for God.
As children come to the point of willing and known rebellion against God and His righteousness, they either seek God and His forgiveness or they move further into disobedience. The move away from God is demonstrated by a corrupting and hardening of the heart (conscience, will, desire, emotions and reason).
Life does deal us a bad hand, even at a young age. This can result in a surrender to the light God gives us and a faith in Christ or it will result in a surrender to the darker side of life.
This is part of the need for and the beauty of the "new birth." Not only does salvation bring forgiveness of our sins, it also imparts the grace of God, which bestows Christlikeness and enables godliness through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Salvation is a "saving from sin" and a "saving to righteousness." God imparts and instills His own qualities to the new believer. To stop the manifestation of godly qualities is to grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. As believers, we will either be conformed to the image of Jesus or we will be cut off from Jesus.
Let the graces of God flow freely in your life.
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