1 Cor 3:3 “You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?”

Today’s Fresh Manna verse could really be perceived as an unusual verse if you studied it out. The Apostle Paul is talking to the Corinthian church and he says to them, “Are you not acting like mere men?” In the original Greek, acting means to walk out or conduct your daily business, and mere men simply means, as a human being. All together it says, “Are you not walking out your daily business as human beings?” Doesn’t this seem an unusual question? How else are people supposed to live out there lives but to “walk out their day as a human being?”

Paul is indicating that because of them being “born again” and filled with the Holy Spirit, that living life as a mere human being is unsatisfactory. Could this be true? It is! We are not to be “acting like mere men (or women.)” This is one of the greatest truths missing from the Christian church today. When we were born again, we were made new creatures in Christ (2Cor 5:17.) According to the Word of God we were given the Holy Spirit, to be more than just a man or woman. We were given God’s nature so that we could resist the power of sin and emulate Jesus learning to walk after Him in love, power and authority. Eph 5:1 drives home that truth! “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.” We are His body in this earth to minister to the needs of those around us in our day-to-day life whether it be by prayer, sharing, teaching, or by anointed encouragement, or by the laying on of hands on the sick.

If you’ve ever tried to kick a habit or break patterns of wrong behavior, or if you’ve ever tried to consistently speak, say, think, or do the right things, you know how hard it can be. The Bible says that for people who haven’t received Jesus, they are snared by the power of sin. That’s why people can’t do things they should do and do things they know they shouldn’t do. Mere men are those that haven’t received Jesus or if they have, haven’t learned to walk in who they are in Him.

After I received Jesus into my heart, I still walked as a “mere man” in many areas of my life for a long time. I didn’t know how to walk any other way. The Bible says we have a divine nature that we are to partake of. 2 Peter 1:4 “Through these God has given us His very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” Does it get more clear than this?

This truth was the most incomprehensible thing to me. “I’m a human being. How can I have a divine nature?” As long as I believed that I was just who I am and didn’t have the power to change anything, I remained the same old pathetic person – a powerless human being that never changed – a mere man that stayed in the same old rut. Eventually, as hard as it was to believe, God finally got through to me. I made a decision to believe what God was telling me in His Word. I believed that by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit working in me, I could participate in His divine nature. I purposed to believe that the Holy Spirit would give me the strength to change what I couldn’t change in my self. You know what happened? I began to change. Old habits began to fall off. I began to become a person of moderation (TRULY A MIRACLE OF GOD!) My thought life even began to change. I was able to learn to stop thinking wrong, wicked and evil thoughts.

God has a tremendous plan for each and every one of us. If we will just get over ourselves and give ourselves over to Him and believe what He says, we can go beyond being just mere men. Then He can begin to do a mighty work in us and through us.

Because you do have a divine nature, God will use you long before you are cleaned up. He just wants to clean you up and use you more. I’ve been at the cleaners for 31 years. I’m so glad that I’ve leaned on His divine nature so I could quit walking as a “mere man” that was powerless to change and instead, be changed and used of Him. How about you?

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2008 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.

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