The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

This spiritual ambition leads the New Creature to striveto please God, whatever men may think of him ; it leadshim to lay up in store for himself treasure in heaven, andmakes him " covet earnestly the best gifts," in order thathe may be counted worthy of becoming a .joint-heir withJesus Christ, and so be enabled to satisfy the desires ofhis heart in glorifying God and helping to bless all thefamilies of the earth.Another natural element is that of combativeness whichmany of us possess to a greater or less extent. The naturalman who has the quality of combativeness is apt to be veryobjectionable, but when such a man becomes a NewCreature in Christ, the truth searches out the naturalcombativeness in his heart and gradually dissolves it, andas it becomes absorbed by the faith of the New Creature,it is transformed into a spiritual combativeness. Thisquality is one of the finest which can be possessed by theman of God, because, properly directed, it enables him tocarry on a warfare against the world, the flesh, and thedevil, and so to fight the good fight of faith. The naturalman uses his combativeness to fight others for the sake ofhimself ; the man of God uses his combativeness to fighthimself for the sake of others. We must all have thisquality, to some extent at least. If we do not possess itnaturally, we shall require to pray to our Heavenly Fatherto assist us. You know how the skilful gardener adds tothe ground whatever elements may be L%cking, if they arenecessary to the growth of the. tree. I am sure the Iardwill give us whatever elements are needful to our spiritualgro.wth.The root, then, represents our faith, and just as the rootis the only part of the tree which absorbs water, so the manof God receives the truth only by the one means, namely,his faith. .If a man lacks faith, he will not be able toreceive the truth. That explains the reason why so manytell us that the M k r Plan of thr Ages is the most difficult