The Nature of an Avocado

Romans 7:25

Hosea 13:4

Last year after eating an avocado I stuck a couple toothpicks in and suspended it in water. It started to grow but a squirrel got ahold of it and quickly destroyed the new life. A few months ago when we finished a couple more avocados I did the same thing. One never seemed to do anything but sit in the water. When I broke the nut open I found a small beginning of a sprout that for some reason stopped growing almost as soon as it had begun. The last of my three avocado pits though successfully sprouted and is now living in soil, nearly a foot tall. I may actually have to figure out how to prune this one; though I grew it on a lark it seems to be a survivor and may even produce avocados for us in a couple more years.
.
An avocado pit will never produce anything other than an avocado tree. It only has one nature and no one has ever offered to rescue it from that nature. It will never walk about or speak or choose to deny itself for the sake of someone else. We struggle with our nature because it is broken. It does its very best to lead us into sin even when we see the goodness of God and want to obey Him. The grace of God offers us the means to overcome the tendency of sin; He is the only one who can give us the means to do so and the only one who has offered it to us. His offer is that of a transformation of our human nature, not to replace who we are as human beings nor to supersede our will but to live with us and give us the opportunity to work with Him to overcome sin and be renewed in His Spirit.