Helplessness

Today’s devotional makes a statement that can only apply to Christians. The writer speaks about failure to believe and separates the honest doubts of seekers from the unbelief in those who believe in Christ for salvation but struggle when lacking understanding of all the Bible says. The author claims:

Doubts are to be overcome not by reasoning but by faith. “I will believe; I choose to believe,” have been the weapons with which I have conquered in many a fierce battle. For the will has far more to do with our believing than most people think.

Combine that statement with Christ’s words, “Not my will but thine be done” to see that even He choose to trust the Father rather than Himself. He always did, and in Him we have the ability to choose who we trust. This is a gift, not something we already have.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Salvation is a gift of grace through faith which is also a gift. No one believes without it:

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12)

This means that without the indwelling Holy Spirit that comes with salvation and the gift of faith, no one can choose to believe. Sin ruined our power of choice. When confronted with the gospel, no one will say yes to it unless the Holy Spirit grants that gift of faith — the gift that comes to us through hearing, not through deciding we will believe, because sin voids that option. The reign of “almighty me” will not select it.

That said, what about me? Can I choose to believe? Do I try to reason out a matter rather than trust God? Do I have the power and desire in me to say yes to what He says?

Romans 6 speaks of what is true and as Jesus said, believing truth sets us free.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:1–8)

This death is about separation from God, not just a physical death. Yet at the same time, even Paul wrote of the difficulty of believing in Chapter 7. He was aware that the crucified self keeps popping up. Even though it is dead to God and sin, the old me keeps trying to run my life. Paul finished by saying:

Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:16–25)

PRAY: Jesus, Paul’s choice is also mine; I can serve You or do what that old flesh wants. The flesh cannot obey You and that is precisely why I need a Savior; I cannot save myself for my flesh will always pick sin. Thank God for new life and the ability to choose to trust and serve You. Yes, I must see this helplessness of my will so I can choose to say Thy will be done instead of insisting on my own way.