Partake: To have part of the quality, nature, or character of something or To take or have a part or share; participate.
I met someone recently that reminded me of myself. A smaller me... A younger me. I watched her smile, watched her giggle, watched her become slightly sad or afraid. It is a slightly weird experience to actually meet someone, that I personally can admit, resembles me. Even though I have never met her, never spent time with her, never spoke a word to her, she resembled me in many ways.
I watched a piece of my nature... my character in someone else.
It's very difficult to share or participate in two things at once. I realized that more clearly as I watched a "mini-me" because I realized that as I looked at this little girl... she was loveable, interesting, kind. She may have things underneath that no one can see, but the NATURE, the CHARACTER of this little girl will always be with her as she grows up... She could try to bury it. She could try to overlook it, or she could accept it. But throughout the course of her life, she will have a nature, a character that she must accept, she must PARTAKE in.
We have this same journey of partaking - I can partake of a lot things today. I can partake in one of two natures - evil or Christ. Really if we place all the "things" we could partake in today, they would fall into these two categories. Now, I'm not talking about starting to religiously saying, "no", but I'm saying that we have a choice WHO we partake of and with while we live this ONE life that we have been given.
Another niece, Mercy Jade,was born this week, she carries the beauty of Christ upon her face. She carries the nature, the resemblance of Christ. I don't know what happens to all of us, but something does & we loose that resemblance. As soon as we leave our created place with Him, we enter a dark world and most of us don't choose to partake of the nature of Christ. We make decisions that alter our lives in drastic ways & then we wonder why our character, our nature is all screwed up.
I understand that we're all evil at the core, but it is my understanding now that IN CHRIST my nature, my character has been changed. I now refuse to accept the minimal Christianity that says, "Oh, well, we're all born with an evil, sinful nature. It's okay to still remain this way." I'm not talking about our sinful actions. I'm talking about our sinful character... the root of the sinful actions. Our Christianity does not rememble the Christianity I see in the bible... we are growing cold, waxing cold. Many of us are very luke warm because we are not partaking in the NATURE OF CHRIST. We really do not even resemble Him. I am challenged my friends. I am very challenged to partake in the nature of Jesus Christ regardless of the cost and regardless of days ahead. This is our preparation... we must partake in the Fire of Jesus Christ.
