Choices vs. Heredity.

I view my life a little like a game of Texas Hold 'em. (And yes, I did just start playing this game. ;) )
I was given cards I have to deal with. They may not be fantastic, but complaining to the dealer to give me new cards is useless. I can make the most out of the cards I have.

These are the cards I was dealt, and I can choose to play them well or play them poorly.

I was reading some C.S. Lewis again yesterday (How many posts about C.S. Lewis will I have? We'll see...) And I came across this quote which resonated with my "Texas Hold 'em" thought.

"That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it. Most of the man's psychological makeup is probably due to his body: when his body dies all that will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that chose, that made the best or the worst out of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of nice things which we thought our own, but which were really due to a good digestion, will fall off some of us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes or bad health will fall off others. We shall then, for the first time, see every one as he really was. There will be surprises."

I found this interesting. There are things about me, and about us, that are merely hereditary. Such as; to begin with something simple, being skinny. Having a fast metabolism is not my choice- it is a blessing, for sure, but it was only a result of good genes. However, if I eat crap (which I often do), I am not honoring God any more than the 400 pound woman not as "blessed" as I. The only reason I regard myself as "better" is the way the world looks at me- being skinny signifies health. But it's possible I am just as unhealthy as the other woman who did not have the "skinny" gene. What will it matter at the end of our days when we face judgment? Who will have honored her temple more?

Or, another example of something more inward, my patience. Patience in my family runs in the blood- we can put up with a lot before we explode. And our "explosions" are minor, many people would hardly consider them "explosions" at all. Anger is not a characteristic of me at all, I can recall only a few times I have ever legitimately been angry. Sure, it has saved me many-a-stupid-decision or confrontation, but I think that's more convenient than really honoring God. While it may glorify God for me to hold my tongue and not become angry, it comes much more natural for me than the person who consciously holds his/her tongue when his/her natural inclination is to explode. I think that choice will honor God more than when I hold my tongue, because my decision to do so could hardly be considered as a decision at all.


Is it fair to have different standards for every individual person, considering every person has things they are naturally good or bad at? Or does God hold us to the same standard?
I don't know. But based on scripture such as Proverbs 21:2 and 1 Thessalonians 2:4 which tell us God judges the motives of our heart, and my understanding of a just God from the Bible, in my finite mind I could conclude God will judge us based on what we make out of the raw material rather than the raw material itself. (80)

I hardly believe that I will receive the "Well done, good and faithful servant" by simply maintaining my figure and exercising patience, because there was no effort involved, and I was born given these gifts. Surely, I can go against them and become fat and angry, but that would mostly likely be a conscious decision.

It is much more difficult for me to swallow my pride and shut up sometimes when I don't know something (Something that is not natural for me- I'd rather pretend I know something rather than just saying "I don't know.") And I find it much more likely that I will be judged for going against my "sin nature" that would want me to do that, and choose what is "good." Of course, that means we must define what is "good" and "bad" because without a standard we cannot be judged for anything.

I believe that as people who have free will, we pervert "good". But it must be fair to hold humans to a the same standard if there is an established principle of what "good" is, and for most people that is what morals are. If we are striving toward perfection, and as Christians we would call Him God, He is the standard of what good is and therefore we know which choices we make in order to become more like Him or less like Him.

I believe God established laws and principles for that reason, not to enforce nonsense rules but for us humans to hold ourselves to a standard of good. For the man who struggles with sexuality- God established the line so the man must choose to be driven by His nature or choose to honor God. The thing is, I think God knows who men and women we were meant to be before the fall, and now we have parts of us that are naturally more like Him or genetically not.

But we must remember that we are more naturally part of God's family and heredity, and the more we choose to give the parts of ourselves that are not naturally like Him, to Him, the more we become like Him.

I'd like to know your thoughts. I know mine are kind of jumbled.