Against Our Nature

Last week a young hawk  flew into the side of our house. My husband saw it happen, and Buddy ran to where the poor thing landed and stood over it's limp body looking at my husband as if to say "Why'd he do that dad?"


My dog and my husband have this one thing in common, they both have heart's full of compassion for all creatures great and small. If it's bigger than a blue jay, Buddy is afraid of it, otherwise he wants to be best friends with it; so it is easy to imagine him actually asking why the hawk did what it did. I wish we had a picture of the confusion on his face when he stood over the bird.

As I'm writing this I can't help but to make a couple of comparisons. First of all, why did a seemingly healthy young hawk make such a grievous mistake? He was almost clear of the roof’s pitch when he slammed into the house! Hawks have superior eyesight and they can see very tiny animals on the ground from great heights with precision. It seems to go against the very nature of the bird to actually not see, or inadequately gauge the height of our house, which is not very tall by the way. It could be a deficiency in the bird itself, which I wondered about when the next day or so we encountered yet another young hawk that looked as if it had been hit by a car not very far from our house. (this is very unusual to see. Deer, squirrels and many other animals are hit regularly on these country roads unfortunately, but birds, especially the larger raptors are rarely hit.) Perhaps this bird was of the same clutch as the one at our house? If that’s so, then it would stand to reason that there may have been something genetically wrong with the birds, maybe bad eyesight. So encountering not one but two hawks that obviously died from injuries sustained from a mistake in judgement or deficiency in ability to see well, got me thinking about how human beings are destined for death. I know, it’s a pretty grim thought to ponder for long. But let’s take a little look at it anyway, since it is obviously a part of life as they say…

Romans 6:23

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."



Like the hawks and all living creatures on the earth, we are only one misstep, or heart attack away from death. The believer may get lucky enough to be raptured away before ever having to experience the death of the body (Isn’t that what we would all rather have happen?) But, this may not occur in our natural lifetime. And so we will suffer death just like all the saints who have gone before us. The hope that all believers do have however, is the promise that although our natural body is destined for the grave, we will not remain there as Jesus Christ long ago, upon His own death, first took a key and set all the righteous captives free from the grave. And after this was accomplished, he came back to the world of the living to establish and confirm His claim to be the Son of God who conquered this terrible fate called death for all who trust in Him. So although we may make a mistake, like the hawks did, our consequence could be bodily death, but our penalty for death has been paid, therefore we will live for all eternity!


 Another comparison that I wanna point out here, is about how my dog, who is one half black and tan coon hound and the other half golden retriever seems to totally contradict his own nature..The coon hound is genetically conditioned to hunt for small animals and it is said that once found, they normally will kill the animal unless trained not to. The retriever on the other hand, bred to find fallen prey and of course, retrieve it will not generally be afraid of it.  Now I can’t help but think about how we as human beings, who by our very nature are tempted to sin, to make decisions that we know are wrong or against God, that once we are saved the Bible tells us we are given a new nature..we become a new creation in Christ. It is nothing short of a miracle that we are now, with the help of the Holy Spirit, able to resist the temptation to sin..to go against our old nature, to no longer be bound by our genetic makeup to be enslaved by the tendency to commit sin. We are in essence, given new wings to fly above the obstacle of sin that would otherwise result in our death, we can make mistakes, and although there may be unpleasant consequences, we will never again have to fear death because of sin. And we will, if we are focused upon the Lord, see with our spiritual eyes the route to fly around the obstacles that seem to be always in our path.

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but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles..(Isaiah 40:31)





²⁰ But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. ²³But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵ For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For “He has put all things under His feet.”^[a] But when He says “all things are put under Him,”it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. ²⁸Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

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⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”^[g]
55 “ O Death, where is your sting?^[h]
O Hades, where is your victory?”^[i]

(1 Cor. 15 NKJV)

To conclude I just want to say that I hope to someday meet you all in the rapture, but if not- then I pray for a good long life for each of us to enjoy while we continue to praise Jesus and learn more and more of Him!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

~In loving peace and blessings in Jesus~

& always remember that we are...

~Never Forsaken~