I’m born-again, I’m a new creation. I have a past, an old nature. It was nailed with Christ to the Cross, but sometimes I think it resurrected with Him as well. I am constantly amazed at my propensity towards and affinity for sin, despite my claims to the heritage of heaven. Isn’t it interesting how ‘the wrong thing’ is always so incurably attractive?
As a Christian, I’m called to live righteous. Yet sometimes, it seems that the effort it takes to do so is just not available, at least when it’s needed. The line of men who found that out is long, but two come to mind; David, looking back regretfully at a poor ‘one evening’ decision, and subsequently penning countless psalms bemoaning the fact; and Paul, crying out in anguish at the folly of his choices, saying, ‘the things I want to and know I should do, I don’t; yet the things I don’t want to and know I shouldn’t, I most certainly do!’
I identify with these men on many levels. As a result, I can’t help but ask myself, what is it, really, that God wants from us? When He created us, did He not know, like David said, that we are but clay? Does my every now and then weakness surprise Him? Does He sit in heaven, regretting ever having ‘saved’ me? And right there, that’s where the truth comes in. I am saved.
When Jesus died on the Cross, He saved me – from my past, my present and future sins and failings – He bore all of them. Long before I knew Him and long before I knew how much I would need saving, He paid the price for my redemption. That is the truth. There is another truth - God asks some things of me to keep this relationship going. For one, I must continually work out my salvation with fear and trembling, and when I fall, I must look back up to God and seek His forgiveness and restoration. I must live in the light as a true child of the Light, called of God, and I must remember that all my decisions have consequences – of life, or death.
But most of all, and above all else, God wants me to remember that I am not saved by works, nor by my strength. It is only by His grace that I am saved. The most important of these truths is that His salvation is based on the sacrifice the Lord Jesus made, and my acceptance of that gift. Not on my frailties or abilities. I see it everywhere in Scripture – a Father who asks that we never stop, never give up following Him.
David, He ended up describing as a man after His own heart and the greatest of kings. Paul, He went ahead and used to turn the world upside down and write huge swathes of the New Testament. Men who let their desire for God override and eventually erode their struggle with the old nature – those are the men God used.
Found yourself in struggles of late? Things that you think you should be over but are just not letting you be? Feeling like your one step forward is matched by seven backwards? Be assured that your Father in Heaven is keeping a firm grip on you – as long as you will do your part in staying in the process of seeking after Him and His heart. To quote Jesus, to Peter: I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
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