If a description of myself is necessary, it always comes after the entrance of Christ into my life, and the changes that come because of faith in Him. Those descriptions do not tell me how to become a Christian but describe what I ought to be like because I am a Christian.
To illustrate, I could say of someone, “She acts just like a married woman” but if she is unmarried, the actions mean nothing, maybe pretense, or even delusion. She can go through the motions, but not be married at all.
It is the same with faith. It is about a genuine relationship with Jesus. A great many people are only playing church and not part of the body of Christ. After listening and studying what the Bible says about this, it seems that this happens because some people confuse the words written to those in the kingdom with the words written to those not yet genuine believers. The latter thinks that they must do what Christians do to get into the family of God, so try to live that way.
A few weeks ago, one of friends said, “Sin is not only what we do, but what motivates what we do. If it is self-effort, that is the root of sin.” His words came from this verse:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)To many, their own way seems fine and not sin at all as they are doing ‘good’ things, but that is not the point. The point is that self-effort is turning from God’s way — which is about faith in Him and living in forgiveness, new life, and the power He supplies through His Holy Spirit.
The only way to have that is to be given it by God. We cannot claim any of God’s forgiveness and power without faith in Christ in a love-faith relationship with Him where He changes us.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)And with that new life, He make a huge difference…
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14–15)No one can be a Christian until they admit they cannot do it. The way is down not up, humility not effort, trusting Jesus and not myself, and realizing sin is just that, trusting me instead of what God says about all of humanity — we all fall short and cannot change by our own efforts.
Faith draws us to the Word of God and as we read it, faith comes and increases by hearing about Christ. As a seeker, or as a Christian, it is vital to remember that the good God tells us to do is impossible without trusting Jesus. The NT says “… For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23) No matter how good our actions look, they fall short because without Christ, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
For both non-Christians and believers, trusting the flesh is sin. Self-effort and selfish motives oppose faith. For believers, our lapses into ‘me, myself, and I’ are forgiven, but useless. True righteousness is about being constrained by the Spirit no matter how good my I-wants might seem.
PRAY: Jesus, life in the Spirit is hard to define because as soon as I start examining myself to make sure I’m doing Your will, I slide into fleshy, old nature thinking. Faith brings me back to trusting what I cannot see (yet others will see it in me) and a life of freedom with love, peace, joy, and the other fruit of the Spirit that You pour in and through me. I cannot take credit for any of that. Wow, may You be glorified.
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