I concluded yesterday’s quiet time by saying that we can die with Christ and effectively lose the bonds of the law that hold us slaves to death and sin. (Check out yesterday’s quiet time). But how do we deal then when we are supposedly dead to the law (that is old time religion) and redeemed to be a like Christ in that we are raised from our dead-selves and continually failing in epic proportions? It’s a legitimate question that causes us to give up our pursuit of godliness simultaneously to our spiritual awakening. The problem always seems to be that we’re being set up for failure, so why try at all? Let me give you an example: You go to a revival, change your heart and give up personal super egos, giving yourself wholly to God again and you tell yourself that you will not lust after your friend’s brand new job. Instead, because you’re telling yourself not to covet your friend’s brand new job because really you’re proud of him/her even though you know that you deserve such a job more than he or she, you start plotting in all sorts of ways because you’re thinking about how not to covet. The Apostle Paul said it like this: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:14). When we try not do something by thinking about how not to do it, we actually do the opposite and think more carefully on how we are going to do that thing we know we don’t want to do; and in the end, we end up doing it. True story, ain’t it? The moment we sign up to die with Christ so that sin no longer controls us, we find ourselves in epic failure mode where we sabotage ourselves. Hopefully making us realize that we can’t be “Christ-like.” Now, what if I told you that none of what I just said really matters once you’re dead to the law in Christ? Yeah, the way you live would change, wouldn’t it? We would take our “epic fail modes” in stride and still produce fruit from our lives, wouldn’t we? I’m not talking about bad, rotten fruit, I’m talking about the fruits of God type of fruit. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. – Romans 8:1-2 There is only one way we fail in an epic manner– we condemn ourselves for being unable to fix ourselves. Here’s the bottom line: we will fail, sometimes it will be more explosive than other times. However, it is inevitable; because we’re wretched most of the time (just think about your coveting problem), so let’s not down play the enormity of the situation by saying we have some type of handle on ourselves to pick ourselves up from our bootstraps and conquer the evil that is set up to make us lose, and really trust the relationship we have with God, who through Jesus changes us slowly but surely. If we allow ourselves, not in a rigid religious manner, to be influenced by Jesus personally, we would bounce back faster from our shortcomings. The only way to be influenced by Jesus is to trust Him to influence you. You will still experience epic failures, but it won’t destroy you like the law would. The law shames us internally and externally flogs us. You’d forgive yourselves for being imperfect and cling more to Jesus, who is perfect, and who forgives you, and that is influence! There would be less epic failings and people around you will recognize it because those are the fruits of being raised to life with Christ. We’ve died to the law in Christ, let us be raised from our deaths to bear godly fruits instead of going into an epic fail mode.
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