It has been said that
Christianity is not a religion; rather it is a life-style that mirrors or
reflects that of Christ Jesus who is its root, foundation, and pillar… It is
known that the earlier Disciples of Christ were referred to as Christians by
reason of the fact that their way and manner of life was just like that of
their Master Jesus… Therefore to be a Christian then simply means to be
Christ-like in nature and character, in thoughts, words and deeds…
The quest of every true Christian
is to attain to the fullness of the image of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of
God and was the only totally sinless and perfect human that ever lived on the
earth… While everyone is in a personal race towards attaining that perfection,
we discover that many times the efforts we try to make towards living the
Christ-like life seems strenuously difficult and even seemingly impossible to
many… As such, someone once said “Living the true Christian life is not hard,
it is impossible!”, and to a great extent, that statement is true…
Just as with the children of
Israel in the Old Testament, all the dos and donts of the Law given to them by
God were never kept by them, rather they kept disobeying and rebelling against
God and His Laws… As ambiguous as the following statement may sound, it is the
truth of the matter: God never really gave them those laws to keep but rather
for them to break; God did not give the Law with the expectation that they were
going to keep it, but with the full-knowledge that they were going to break it…
The Law was given to make them law-breakers, because the word ‘sin’ never had a
real meaning until there was the existence and implementation of the Law… As
the Word reveals: “…for where no law is,
there is no transgression…” Rom. 4:15 “…for by the law is the knowledge of sin…”
Rom 3:20…
But then, the Word also states
more clearly: “For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and
judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law.
For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of
sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward
repentance, faith, and holy character]” Rom. 3:20 (AMP)… From the above we
discover the real ultimate purpose of the Law given by God through Moses; which
was, for man to recognize his helplessness and inability to meet up to God’s
standard by his own efforts with his fallen Adamic nature of disobedience …
However, God had in mind the plan
of salvation through His Son Jesus not only to enable man keep God’s laws, but
also to give man back God’s nature and life which He had lost, thereby making
possible a Father-son relationship between man and God by man’s faith in Christ
Jesus and His finished work on the cross… But then, we find that many who have received
and believed Christ as their Lord and saviour and have become Christians, are
yet having a hard time struggling, trying and still failing to keep to God’s
commands in His Word; others keep giving their lives to Christ or becoming born
again over and over again; or even worse, some having foreseen ahead, give up
completely, considering the task as an unachievable one and would rather not even
attempt being a Christian…
The problem is often with the
misunderstanding of what the true Christian life is all about, what God’s grace
means to the Christian and what the work of the Holy Spirit whom one receives by
faith when one becomes born again is… The truth is; one will never be able to
keep all of God’s laws as long as one keeps trying to keep it by one’s own
efforts; as someone once said “The best way to live pleasing to God is not to
try!”; because the more you try, the more you fail, and the more frustrated you
get…
What then is the solution?
Definitely not far from God’s Word… The Christian life-style is never about your
dos and don’ts, never about what you have to start and keep doing or what you have
to stop and cease doing; rather it is about what God wants to do for you, in
you, and through you, and that is what God’s grace means; it is not about what
you keep trying to do to stand righteous before God, but about what God has
done and what He keeps doing to make you righteous in His sight…
Before the work of salvation done
by Christ, God spoke through His Prophet: “I'll give you a new heart, put a new
spirit in you. I'll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a
heart that's God-willed, not self-willed. I'll put my Spirit in you and make it
possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands.” Ezek. 36:26-27
(MSG)…. Jesus also said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or
the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matt. 5:17
(NIV)… And Rom. 5:1 (NLT) says: “Therefore, since we have been made right in
God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our
Lord has done for us”… Also, in 1Cor. 3:16 (NIV) it says: “Don't you know that
you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?”… And in Phil.
2:13 (NLT) it says: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey
him and the power to do what pleases him.”…
From all the above scriptures, we can deduce that meeting
the demands of God’s laws does not have much to do with our own works or
efforts as long as we remain in and maintain the salvation which we have
already received by faith and we depend on only God’s grace trusting Him and
the power of His Holy Spirit in us, to enable us stay on course… And that makes
the major difference between the Old Covenant (Law) and the New Covenant
(Grace)… As Watchman Nee rightly said: "The law makes demands and leaves us hopeless to
fulfill them, but Christ makes demands but fulfills in us the very demands he
makes!"…
Therefore, there are really no dos and don'ts in the
Christian life-style, rather it is simply working out what God is working in;
it is God’s Holy Spirit working on our hearts and putting in it the desire/will
to do that which pleases God… In other words, it is simply God at work, not us…
When we fail to understand and live by this truth, we find that we keep
striving by our own efforts to keep God’s laws and never succeeding for long…
God never gives us a task He expects us to accomplish without giving us the
ability to do it, when He knows we do not have that ability on our own…
God’s Holy Spirit in you is your ability to live the true
Christian life, and the more conscious you are of the One in you, both working
in and through you, the easier you will find the Christian life-style, and as
you keep sensitive and yielded to the Holy Spirit, you will find that the
Christian life gradually becomes your way of life naturally without much struggle…
Not forgetting the need to keep feeding and growing your spirit and increasing
your spiritual sensitivity by prayer and through God’s Word… Then the freedom,
joy and peace of the Holy Spirit will fill your heart keeping it free from all
guilt and accusations of the enemy; knowing you have forgiveness of sins by the
blood of Jesus even if you fall a few times; because though we have a new
spirit now, we yet live in an unsaved/un-glorified body/flesh and a soul/mind
still undergoing the process of being renewed; while not intentionally taking
God’s free grace for granted, as we aim towards perfection in the attainment of
the fullness of the image/nature and personality of Christ Jesus our perfect model…
Yes! Living the true Christian life is not just hard, it is
impossible, as long as you keep trying to live it by your own weak will-power;
but not with God, for with God, all things are possible, including the true Christian
life-style… No one can meet the holiness standard of God except God’s Holy
Spirit empowers one; and if you are born again, then you have His Holy Spirit
in you, therefore you can do all things by His power… Only be conscious of His
presence in you always, trusting Him to help and guide you in all your
thoughts, words and deeds in life!
Nice Day Friends!
#GodIsStillInCharge
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