Christianity becomes a heavy burden when we try to live focusing on our sins and become too occupied with the thought of making our lives pure from sin.
I think we humans are naturally wired to “work” our way to God. We want to impress Him by our “good works.” While we know that we’re saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) to good works, we secretly try to do better than the other person so we receive special and unique favor from God. So, as part of our effort, we TRY hard to make ourselves pure, free from sin.
The thing is, purity and holiness are not something we can produce; they are gifts of God, given to us the day we believe in Christ Jesus.
And this is the one thing that we all should be aware of, i.e., our enemy, the devil, wants our mind to be occupied with our sin, how to win it, what to do about it, how to get rid of it and be totally free from it; means, he wants us to believe that we are our own “saviors.”
Wow!
If we follow this kind of pattern of thinking and life, we are the most pitied Christians ever because we try to do what Christ, the Son of God, did for us. This is the most repugnant life before God because God only knows Christ as a Savior, no one else.
So, as Christians, what do we need to focus on, or what do we need to know?
You see, the word of God tells us that, “- – – Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30)
Our righteousness, holiness and redemption are not the things we fabricate or produce. We can’t “self-generate” our righteousness, holiness and redemption by ourselves because they are pure gifts of God given to us who believe in Christ Jesus.
What we need to know, I believe, are then primarily the following three things: Who we are in Christ, who Christ is as He is revealed in His word and what we have in Him. (In addition to the rest of the books of the Bible, I think, it is good to study Paul’s epistle to Ephesians to understand this concept better.)
When we don’t buckle up these fundamental truths as “a belt of truth,” we present ourselves like fools before the devil. These belt of truths are like “locks” of our joy, peace and freedom in Christ Jesus (borrowing words from Spurgeon). But when we DON’T KNOW these truths, Satan uses our ignorance as razor to shave off “these locks” from our lives without us “knowing it”.
Listen what the Bible says,
“With persuasive words she led him astray; (“she” – an adulterous woman, like Delilah, or a half-naked woman on his phone)
she seduced him with her smooth talk. (“him” – a Christian young man, like Samson)
All at once he followed her
like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer stepping into a noose
till an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
little knowing it will cost him his life.” (Proverbs 7:21-23)
“Little knowing it” – he was numb. While he was dying, he didn’t know. He didn’t know what was going on. The view of her half-naked body and her smooth talk were like anesthetics. He lost all his spiritual sensitivity and that cost him everything! She literally made him lose his mind and think like animals; like ox, deer, bird, which are only given over to their instincts, without logical reasoning and aspiring mind.
Why?
“His locks” were shaved off after he let go of spending time with the word and spirit of God. He no longer spend time with the Holy Spirit who can only reveal to him his true identity in Christ Jesus. So, he now only listens to messages that make him feel “good” about himself and forget the realities of his life. He only looks for a quick fix. He has preachers he follows that tell him that he is okay and his life is okay while he is dying.
Then “little knowing it,” cost him great deal.
Yeah, we all are vulnerable to this kind of “little knowing it,” aren’t we? And in one way or another, we’ve experienced what this “little knowing it” feels like and how much it can cost us. But do you know that we can say no to “little knowing it” kind of life (Titus 2:11-12)? Yes, we can. When we say “Yes” for the Spirit of God to revive our spiritual locks as we soak our soul and spirit in the truth of God, spending time with Him, we automatically say “No” to all little knowing it experiences.
Then, only then can we fight against sin and strive to put to death “whatever belongs to our earthly nature: Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, – – -” (Colossians 3:5), not by trying to fabricate righteousness and holiness but by “living out” (“working out” our salvation) the righteous and holy life given to us by God through Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:12-13). ///