The circumstances make the man.
We’ve heard that before. It’s part of the argument of nature versus nurture. Are we born into what we are, or does our upbringing dictate what we become?
In effect, will an affluent family with good manners always produce well-mannered children, or is rotten rotten, no matter how high-priced a child’s toys?
In practical terms, if we face difficult circumstances, can we dig our way out, or are we stuck there because that’s simply who we are? Once a prostitute, always a prostitute. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Once an embezzler, always an embezzler.
We are stamped with a label, and that’s all we’ll ever become.
God’s Word says otherwise. Read in Acts 8:27:
“And he arose and went and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to worship…”
This man was in a position of high power and unlimited funds. He controlled the treasury of a great nation. He was from Africa where foreign gods were regularly worshipped.
Yet he chose Jesus. Eusebius says this man was the first gentile in the early church to convert to Christ. The eunuch took the initiative to step out from his nature and nurture a relationship with Jesus. He chose the straight and narrow rather than the wild and easy-to-follow.
The eunuch put God into his circumstances, rather than letting his circumstances determine whether he would serve God.
It’s when we choose to step beyond our circumstances that God can truly begin to use us for his divine purposes. Nature versus nurture? Bah! It’s a God thing. He has all the power in creation, no matter our ancestry and no matter our circumstances.
When we reach out to God, he becomes our stepping stone to greater things.
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Code: FGO.I.18.15b.vp.kjv