The Truth About Being ‘Born This Way’

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with loving yourself. In fact, not doing so smacks of low self-esteem which is unhealthy. However, the concept of self-love as highly perpetuated by society, has also left a lot of people unhinged by anything they do. Whether such things are wrong or distasteful in God’s eyes, people remain steadfast in accepting everything about themselves. With their fist in the sky any form of correction will receive the retort, ‘baby, I was born this way’. Two of such proclamations are in defense of character and the body’s natural sexual desires.

Defense of Character

Each person is born with a unique personality, and it’s such differences that lets us see the diversity of humanity. However, some personalities can exhibit traits which do not represent the character of Christ we are meant to imitate. I think this is why some Christians do not believe in personality types- but that’s a discussion for another day. Some traits are known to be less tolerable towards others, or so strong that they always demand their own way. However, such characteristics do not correspond to the type of love we are meant to show. The defense of character then becomes problematic when more negative traits don’t conform to the standard of Jesus.

There truly isn’t any room to confess, ‘as for me that’s how I am’. No believer has the same life they lived before Jesus Christ. Any believer that doesn’t live consciously of the character growth they must partake in, is living a very subpar life. It is also not proof of repentance.

It is always evident when a believer decides to remain adamant in their old ways. I see this especially in older generations. This isn’t necessarily to throw shade at them. However, when negative patterns have been displayed from generation to generation it makes it harder to break away if you’re not conscious. I, for example, can be very impatient and irritable and it’s something I have seen displayed for most of life. However, I am aware of this negative trait, and quick to address it when it flares up. It is no longer enough to believe the gospel and be unfazed about character, while pursuing a heart like Jesus. We are running after a heart like Jesus that talks, thinks, and acts like Him!

Defense of Natural Sexual Desires

There was a time when I thought I would submit to every whim of my sexual desire. Heck, it’s what I had known for so long that thinking of anything else seemed beyond impossible. Of course, as a man thinks so is he. Therefore, by continually telling myself that this is who I am, I rather push myself further away from the freedom Christ has purchased for me.

The Greeks in Corinth thought similarly. They believed sex was purely biological. Due to that it was not preventable and thus rendered inconsequential. They understood that the body would be destroyed. Such a justification of sexual immorality places the refusal of growth in Christ, in the hands of being ‘born this way’. Note that it wasn’t unbelievers who thought this way. Paul’s letter was to a church in Corinth. However, the influence of culture could have contributed to that thinking which stated that the body was evil. What they then did to it, was not of significant value. That is why we see in 1 Corinthians 6:13b, that Paul states, ‘Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body’.

Merely having a mindset on how something is popularly perceived, doesn’t mean it is right in God’s eyes. As believers, we are meant to value our bodies and that valuation comes from abstaining from sexual immorality. Because our bodies are the temple of God, we no longer have the right to treat it as our own personal property because we were bought at a price (1 Cor 6:19-20).

Born Again

We can’t afford to remain in the state we were once in before we came to Christ. When the Bible asks us to be born again (John 3:3), it means whatever state we were in, must give way to a new life. When a newborn baby enters the world, it takes time for them to be nurtured within a specific environment, and that determines how they would end up. Though they have life, they don’t automatically know the ways of life. Like newborn babies, when believers also accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour they are given a new life. That life equally has to go through a process of nurturing and this is evidence of growth. Just as a newborn baby lives a life that resembles that of a human, being born again should resemble a life in Christ.

Believing in Jesus Christ, doesn’t suddenly take away all the things you believed and did. As mentioned earlier there is still a process to go through. But until you accept that you can’t live in the mindset of being ‘born this way’, you will never change.

Whatever it is that we were, thought or did , if it doesn’t conform to the image of Christ, we must be ready to lay it at His feet. We can learn from Jesus to be born His way. He is ready to teach us and to give us rest. All we have to do is deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow Him, with Hands Lifted High.

Verses

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV: Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

John 3:3 NKJV: Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.