Hi there
Please receive today’s Holy Nougat
“I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.” Romans 7:21 NLT
I find this liberating – to know that one such as Paul ‘got it’. That sometimes what we end up doing is not necessarily what I wanted to do, but there it is – I messed up, sometimes time and again. And it isn’t only Paul and I, I believe all of us have these besetting issues.
But even more liberating than that knowledge is ‘part two’ of the verse – it’s not so much written there as it is implied . Because if our natural selves cannot stop us from doing wrong, then we’d best not rely on our own strength – physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. We can’t save ourselves.
Yup. I said it and I repeat – We Cannot Save Ourselves!
It is our faith in Christ that engages God’s Spirit to be at work in us. That’s Who saves us. Christ’s death liberates is from damnation; the indwelling of God’s Spirit keeps us when our flesh fails. And fail it will. Sometimes EVEN when we are under God’s grace. For the part of us that would rather have our own way – our soulish self, our flesh nature – often gets permission to override God’s will for us.
And unfortunately, that permission comes from us. It comes when we fail to give priority or authorization to God’s Spirit working within. So we begin with little things, little choices and eventually not so little things. But, even at the worst state we can find ourselves – the absolute worst we imagine, whatever it is – Christ is able to find us and forgive us. And by Christ’s grace, through God’s Spirit, we can overcome.
Trust me, it may not happen overnight, but I assure us, God can effect that change. I am a living testimony of that. And, unless your life has not changed at all since accepting Christ, so are you! In some instances, we just find the yearnings for the old ways (our sin nature) literally disappear.
Yes, temptations will resurface (sometimes the very same issue), but in God’s strength we have already overcome. And that’s where we focus – on the Spirit’s power to deliver us from ourselves. Not on our mess, except to seek forgiveness from God but naming our wrong and recognizing that we need God’s Spirit to overcome.
So what next, we focus on God. Our Source, Strength,Sustenance and Salvation
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
