Two Natures

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16)

Every believer carries both natures. The outward natural man is the self, built by the ego in response to the influences of the world. While he may know about Jesus, he cannot actually KNOW Him, because Jesus cannot be truly known through the intellect alone.

The inward spiritual man is not an improved version of the natural man. He is the spirit God breathed into each of us and where all good in us comes from. He is the quiet voice that is our conscience, beneath the noise, who replaces the natural man through daily surrender.

The Problem

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Here is what nobody told many of us: the natural man does not die the day we come to believe. We are not made a “new creation” in an instant. He can study the bible, attend church regularly, engage in good works… he isn’t obviously evil. Unfortunately, he can believe every word of the bible and not know the God it reveals. And not because the Word failed, but because the natural man was never surrendered. What divided the Church was never the Word… it was us.

The Way

Jesus named it plainly: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Daily. Not a decision made once at an altar, but by laying down the self every morning, and walking our daily lives in union with Christ. He is our strength. He is the love and the power that transforms us… to resist the temptations of sin, and exemplify His love before the watching eyes of the world.

Why This Site Exists

Everything here is about the disparity between who we are truly meant to be as followers of Christ Jesus, and who the ego built on top of us. The Noise Within is the book that exposes the deceptions of ego that have prevented so many of us from the peace, joy, and freedom found in real, intimate relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. The Livingroom is where we can talk it over… openly, honestly, without pretense.

Come in as you are.