The Story of 2 Brothers & The Dichotomy of Human Nature
Human
Nature & The Story of 2 Brothers
God created mankind with the
incredible capacity for greatness! As
human beings, we have within us the potential to accomplish wonderful things in
life and to help others to do the same.
It is sad, but we also have a nature within us, because of the sin of
Adam and Eve and our own sin, with the capacity and inclination toward evil. We have within us a sinful nature that can
cause us to go in the opposite direction of greatness. That is the great dual nature and potential of
mankind. We are capable of going in
dramatically different directions. Which
direction will we go in? Which road will
we travel on? The answer reminds me of a
story that I heard many years ago. It is
the story of two brothers.
Many years ago, there was a remarkable series of events that occurred in the lives of two brothers. As they were growing up, the brothers were part of a large family and were very well provided for. Their dad was a well-known Shakespearean actor and soon the brothers also became involved in acting and both eventually became very famous for their acting abilities. They had a friendly competition going throughout the years as to who would perform the best.
One day one of the brothers
went out and committed a horrible sinful act that shocked the family – especially
his older brother. He could not believe
that they had both been raised in the same family, raised by the same parents, he
could not understand how his brother could have gone out and done such a
horrible thing! It caused the older
brother to become very discouraged and disheartened by what his brother had
done. How was it possible for two
children to turn out so differently?
The older brother was so hurt by what his brother had done, that he had started withdrawing from society and his acting career. He was embarrassed and was struggling to make much sense as to what had happened. That all changed with a letter that he had received from a friend. The letter reminded him of an incident that had happened many years before while he was at a train station. There were a group of passengers that were crowding forward to purchase their sleeping car places from the conductor when one of the passengers became caught between the platform and the train, just as the train was starting to move!
The letter reminded him
that of all the people crowded together that day – he was the one who grabbed
the boy that day and freed him from being pulled away by the train and
seriously injured or killed. He had not
realized who had saved at the time, but the letter reminded him that whereas
his brother, John Wilkes Booth had gone out and killed Abraham Lincoln, his
brother – Edwin Thomas Booth had saved the life of the president’s son Robert
Todd Lincoln that day at the train station!
After reading the letter,
Edwin was very encouraged and hopeful once again. The letter reminded him that even within the
same family – the great dichotomy of human nature had been on display. One brother had used his opportunities and
ability for evil purposes, and one had used his opportunities and ability for
greatness.
The Bible can be like
that letter that Edwin received! The
Bible can provide us hope and encouragement and show us how to live our lives
for greater purposes. The Bible tells us
of God’s plan to give us a new nature in Christ. We may still have the sinful nature within
us, but we also have a dynamic, awesome, wonderful, fantastic nature of Christ
that can transform us! If you want to
have any hope of moving in the right direction – then you should start the
wonderful new life in Christ. If you are
already a Christian, then you should follow the exhortations of Paul to put on
the new nature and put off the old.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new. (KJV)
Romans 13:14 “But take up the weapons of the
Lord Jesus Christ and stop paying attention to your sinful nature and
satisfying its desires”. (GNB)
Written by Lee Malden 2021
For more information: email lmalden@hotmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment