All of Grace - Cat and the Pig

So, I wanted to share another Charles Spurgeon quote from All of Grace. This is an illustration of what our lives are like when Christ comes into our lives. It is a very clear picture of being born again.

"Do you see that cat? What a cleanly creature she is! How cleverly she washes herself with her tongue and her paws! It is  quite a pretty sight! Did you ever see a sow do that? No, you never did. It is contrary to its nature. It prefers to wallow in the mire.  Go and teach a sow to wash itself, and see how little success you would gain. It would be a great sanitary improvement if swine would be clean. Teach them to wash and clean themselves as the cat has been doing! Useless task. You may by force was that sow, but it hastens to the mire, and is soon as foul as ever. The only way in which you can get a sow to wash itself is to transform it into a cat; then it will wash and be clean, but not till then! Suppose that transformation to be accomplished, and then what was difficult or impossible is easy enough; the swine will henceforth be fit for your parlor and your hearth-rug. So it is with an ungodly man; you cannot force him to do what a renewed man does willingly; you may teach him, and set a him a good example, but he cannot learn the art of holiness, for he has no mind to it; his nature leads him another way. When the Lord makes a new man of him; hen all things wear a different aspect."

Did you catch what he was saying? When we are unsaved we care nothing for the things of God. Unbelievers think that the things of God are foolish. The Bible even says that in 1 Corinthians 2:14. When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit goes inside of us. God comes into believers. He makes them into a new creation. You go from being an enemy of God to a child of God. You go from caring for the mud and filth of this world to pursuing to the righteousness of God. The person that you are after being saved does not resemble anything to the person that you were before you encountered the creator of the universe. Do you still struggle with sin once you become saved? Yes, but how your idea about sin is changed. You hate your sin. When you become a Christian your whole life should be focused on following His ways and not your own.

I would suggest that if you are a Christian then you should read this book in order to gain an idea of how to reach outsiders. If you are not a Christian then I still suggest reading this book. Spurgeon addresses many questions that unbelievers have.