If there was something that I could point out to our believing youth of today it would be that there is too much "us" in Christianity and not enough Jesus. It is sometimes a hard thing for us to understand how it is that we are suppose to live and operate under grace. We are a people who are fiercely independent and prefer to do things for ourselves. It is so ingrained in us that we do not even realize we are doing it and it permeates the Church of this age. Our attitude is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in word and song but it is me, me, me in action.
As a young person, how do you stop the habit of sin? Is it any different when one get's older? Too often we do not know how to allow the Spirit to work in us so we treat sin like a bad habit. We change our behaviour, turn our back on our action, clean house and think we are okay. But in truth, if it were possible to do this, to turn our back on sin, Jesus would not have had to go to the cross for us. It is the difference between every self-help book on the shelf and the work of the cross.
A powerful thing happened on that cross. The slavery to sin came to an end. Where there was no way, Jesus made a way. What Jesus did on the cross enabled God to enter in and transform us and by returning to the Father, Jesus was able to send the Spirit to enter into the children of God, allowing for the work of transformation. The whole thing is the work of God, and all we do is receive. It is a powerful work of grace, done by the love of the Father.
When we treat sin as a bad habit we are saying to our Father, "It's okay, I've got this one". We are telling him we don't need his help. We may pray the prayer and sing the songs but we are still trying to do the work. There is a big problem with this and Jesus warned us about it:
When an evil spirit leaves a person, it travels through the desert, looking for a place to rest. But when the demon doesn’t find a place, it says, “I will go back to the home I left.” When it gets there and finds the place empty, clean, and fixed up, it goes off and finds seven other evil spirits even worse than itself. They all come and make their home there, and the person ends up in worse shape than before. (Matthew 12:43-45)
Sin is not a bad habit; it is a very powerful, destructive nature that we have no power over except through Jesus Christ. If we treat it as a habit we will see no need for any help against it. The fact is that sin no longer has any power over us due to the power of Jesus in us but we need to allow that power to fully transform our hearts in order to see sin destroyed in us.
The way to beat sin is to allow Jesus to have full occupancy. Don't clean house, leave it empty and allow it to return with friends. Every day surrender all of the control to Jesus. Make it your heart's desire to know him more, to love him more, to walk in obedience more. As you do there is a displacement that happens. Because of the cross sin has no power over us and as we allow God to fill our house with the Spirit there is no place for that sin to remain or to move back in.
Getting rid of sin is often treated like how we try to get rid of fat. We try the latest diet and at first it works but our old habits are hard to break. The only way to deal with our health is a complete transformation of our lifestyle. It doesn't mean diet but a complete change of eating habits. It also includes a healthy, active lifestyle, less television and video games and more walking, cycling, hiking and any other activity we enjoy. Our spiritual transformation is the same way. It is not a conforming of behaviour that flip flops but a complete re-birth transformation into something new.
You speak to anyone of any maturity and they will tell you that the times they have failed are the times when they became selfish and self-centered, when they returned to the old nature. We cannot afford to be self-centered because, as followers of Jesus, warriors of the Kingdom, servant's of the King of glory, all we can afford to be is Christ-centered.
That is what it comes down to as a young person or a person of many years; what do I want today? Do I want to feed myself on my selfish desires or do I want to love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my soul and all my strength? Do we hear Jesus' words when he said, "If you love me you will do what I have asked"? It is hard every day, no matter your age, to set aside the attractive desires of this world and to choose Jesus over everything else, but that is how you beat sin, by loving Jesus more than everything else in your life. Then there is no room for sin.
Recognize that you have no power in yourself and that you are totally dependent on the power of God in you. It doesn't mean you are powerless; far from it. It means you are more powerful than you can possibly understand at this moment. When you are operating in the power God has given you, his power, nothing is impossible. It is why you are more than a conqueror; you are an overcomer, because Jesus has overcome. Let's set aside our feeble attempts at self-improvement and allow Jesus to complete the work he has begun in us. Let's get Jesus back into everything to do with Christianity. To God be the glory!
Showing posts with label self-help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-help. Show all posts
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Saving Yourself
You can't save yourself. You can put a band-aide on it; you can mask the symptoms, but you cannot remove the disease. The self help industry is a billion dollar lie industry. They paint a world that people can never achieve. They can wall paper and even apply a bit of paint but the rotten structure underneath is still there. We need someone of greater authority than ourselves to take away the disease, to rebuild our structure. This person is Jesus.
Millions of people on this planet have discovered this truth but not everyone lives it. You may not even be living it. We accept the gift of Jesus and he does remove the disease and rebuild the structure but we live as if we are still the ones who have to find the solution. There is no more disease but we are still applying band-aides. Apostle Paul asks the questions:
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? (Colossians 2:20-21)
We need to take a good long look at our attitude toward certain things we do and why. Jesus saved us, end of story. There is nothing we do that can make us more saved. We do not read our Bible to be saved but to grow in knowledge of God. We do not pray to be saved but to participate in God's work. We do not worship to be saved but to glorify God in all his works. We do not serve to be saved but to obey what we have been commanded. We do not sacrifice to be saved but to participate in the suffering of Christ.
The basic principles of this world no longer apply to us. We do not have to do what everyone around us is doing because we answer to a higher authority. We don't belong here any more but are citizens of God's Kingdom. Our values, priorities, perspective and way of thinking no longer match the world's. The Word tells us all the "do's" and "dont's" of this world are fading away, all the trappings of religion are falling away:
These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. (Colossians 2:22)
The self-help style of religion, earning our salvation, has nothing to do with us; because of Jesus we aren't even on the map with such things:
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2:23)
Nothing is going to get rid of the disease of our human nature except for Jesus. He is the only one with the power and authority. A blind man cannot help himself see; neither can another blind man help him see. Nothing we do and nothing anyone else does for us can save us. We need to pay attention to this because sometimes the attitude can creep back in without us knowing. A friend reminded me of what Charles Spurgeon once said. I will paraphrase: We grow in grace but we will never be more saved than the first day we accepted Jesus Christ. Remember, there is nothing you do that saves yourself.
Millions of people on this planet have discovered this truth but not everyone lives it. You may not even be living it. We accept the gift of Jesus and he does remove the disease and rebuild the structure but we live as if we are still the ones who have to find the solution. There is no more disease but we are still applying band-aides. Apostle Paul asks the questions:
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? (Colossians 2:20-21)
We need to take a good long look at our attitude toward certain things we do and why. Jesus saved us, end of story. There is nothing we do that can make us more saved. We do not read our Bible to be saved but to grow in knowledge of God. We do not pray to be saved but to participate in God's work. We do not worship to be saved but to glorify God in all his works. We do not serve to be saved but to obey what we have been commanded. We do not sacrifice to be saved but to participate in the suffering of Christ.
The basic principles of this world no longer apply to us. We do not have to do what everyone around us is doing because we answer to a higher authority. We don't belong here any more but are citizens of God's Kingdom. Our values, priorities, perspective and way of thinking no longer match the world's. The Word tells us all the "do's" and "dont's" of this world are fading away, all the trappings of religion are falling away:
These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. (Colossians 2:22)
The self-help style of religion, earning our salvation, has nothing to do with us; because of Jesus we aren't even on the map with such things:
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2:23)
Nothing is going to get rid of the disease of our human nature except for Jesus. He is the only one with the power and authority. A blind man cannot help himself see; neither can another blind man help him see. Nothing we do and nothing anyone else does for us can save us. We need to pay attention to this because sometimes the attitude can creep back in without us knowing. A friend reminded me of what Charles Spurgeon once said. I will paraphrase: We grow in grace but we will never be more saved than the first day we accepted Jesus Christ. Remember, there is nothing you do that saves yourself.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Stop Getting In The Way
The self-help, self-improvement, self-whatever industry has certainly made a lot of money off of peoples desires to be more than they are. We all have that desire in one form or another. Some people want to improve their intelligence so they work on math skills and general problem solving. Some want to improve their heath so they join a gym. Whatever you want to improve you will find hundreds of books, videos and articles on it.
It is no different spiritually. Many people want to know more, be more but often we run out of energy or desire. Spiritual practices take too much effort or cost too much or just get boring. The fact is, we don't have very much determination and stamina. Apostle Paul said of these things:
These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. (Colossians 2:22)
He also says of them:
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (v. 23)
People may have been a little more extreme in Paul's day about self-improvement but the basic principles are there: a desire to improve on ourselves by controlling our desires.
Most self-improvement principles are based on self-discipline and self-control, when we take control over those things that control us. It could be our appetite, tv watching, sex, swearing, bad thoughts, or anything that we are trying get a handle on. Most people don't realize that these are all provoked by our sin nature and there is no controlling that.
The Word of God makes it clear that mankind is enslaved to the sin nature. No matter what we try we cannot escape from this nature. We may make small inroads if we are really determined but we will always be disappointed in the results. We may be able to get our body in shape but it will not improve our character. We may manage to improve on our intellectual capacity but it will not improve our wisdom. We may be able to influence a few surface things but it will not deal with the underlying nature of indulgence.
There is only one power that can deal with the sin nature and that is Jesus Christ. It is what the cross was all about. If we could have done it ourselves God would not have had to sacrifice himself to rescue us. In the letter to the Romans Paul describes what it is to be controlled by the sin nature and he concludes with this:
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25)
The sad thing is that sometimes we think we have let Jesus rescue us but in fact we are still amongst the self-help group. The only way to allow Jesus to rescue us is to completely give up to him, to surrender it all, to allow his power to take over and to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. When we learn to "Be still" we will discover the power of Jesus. As long as we are trying to rescue ourselves we are getting in the way of the real rescuer.
Stop trying to conform and allow Jesus Christ to transform!
It is no different spiritually. Many people want to know more, be more but often we run out of energy or desire. Spiritual practices take too much effort or cost too much or just get boring. The fact is, we don't have very much determination and stamina. Apostle Paul said of these things:
These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. (Colossians 2:22)
He also says of them:
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (v. 23)
People may have been a little more extreme in Paul's day about self-improvement but the basic principles are there: a desire to improve on ourselves by controlling our desires.
Most self-improvement principles are based on self-discipline and self-control, when we take control over those things that control us. It could be our appetite, tv watching, sex, swearing, bad thoughts, or anything that we are trying get a handle on. Most people don't realize that these are all provoked by our sin nature and there is no controlling that.
The Word of God makes it clear that mankind is enslaved to the sin nature. No matter what we try we cannot escape from this nature. We may make small inroads if we are really determined but we will always be disappointed in the results. We may be able to get our body in shape but it will not improve our character. We may manage to improve on our intellectual capacity but it will not improve our wisdom. We may be able to influence a few surface things but it will not deal with the underlying nature of indulgence.
There is only one power that can deal with the sin nature and that is Jesus Christ. It is what the cross was all about. If we could have done it ourselves God would not have had to sacrifice himself to rescue us. In the letter to the Romans Paul describes what it is to be controlled by the sin nature and he concludes with this:
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25)
The sad thing is that sometimes we think we have let Jesus rescue us but in fact we are still amongst the self-help group. The only way to allow Jesus to rescue us is to completely give up to him, to surrender it all, to allow his power to take over and to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. When we learn to "Be still" we will discover the power of Jesus. As long as we are trying to rescue ourselves we are getting in the way of the real rescuer.
Stop trying to conform and allow Jesus Christ to transform!
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