In religious circles and church systems and structures a believer can be sin-free for all the wrong reasons. You may think 'what does it matter as long as we aren't sinning?' This view suggests God is personally offended when we sin so we need to, at all costs, stop sinning. Sometimes being in a community has us behave a certain way and not be seen to be in sin. But if that is the reason you refrain from sin, it is the wrong reason.
The overarching plan for all of us is not that we behave, it is that we are transformed. The mechanism God uses to show us how much we need Jesus is to allow us to see the real 'me.' Being stuck in communities that are trying to be squeaky clean can sometimes speak back to the believer. We can feel we are doing really well when we have times of successful behaviour management. We come crashing down to earth when we find ourselves convicted. If we didn't believe our own charade so much, the impact of sin would be less. Of course, we do want to appear in public as a good Ambassador of Christ but we are dealing with motives... is it the Pastor, the people or pride what modifies behaviour? This leads to a barrier in our sanctification.
Welcome to 'you!'
God knows we are wretched and sinful in our flesh. It is us who need to be reminded of this. In this mechanism of proper measurement against the Holiness of God we find ourselves able to actually articulate our own horrific self indulgence. Having been made aware of our shortfall we are more able to render things up to the Lord as, by the Holy Spirit, he continues the work of sanctification he began. This 'rendering up' is abandonment, yielding and submission. This is what leads to our gradual transformation, not mere behaviour modification and management.
Here we go again!
I make it all sound so simple but it really isn't! There are some things that keep cropping up as weak areas in our lives. We fully repent and receive forgiveness but find ourselves in the same old place. These are areas where our sinful nature that resides in the flesh is particularly strong. Part of the sin problem is that it has an identity crisis. We are incapable of identifying the complexities of our faults. We need the Holy Spirit to expose to us what we desire and seek over Christ. "What is it about my *insert habitual sin* that I love it over my love for Christ? That I love things more than Christ is the very point of breakage not the particular nature of the habitual sin. The shattering truth about all sin is that we actually love 'self' over Christ! Your habitual * * is because you love yourself. I hope 'ouch' is the response to that observation.
I really do not like the fact that I love self over Christ. And that God knows I love myself more and still wants to work with me is just.... It makes me want to throw my entire self upon his Grace, Mercy and abounding Love. When we get to that place it isn't the answer! It just means God has something he can work with. Part of the slow process of freeing us is that we quickly default to self sufficiency again. We think we have to do something to stop sinning. But actually aiding the process of sanctification in our lives is more about remaining as yielded, submitted and abandoned as we can. When we glimpse that outrageous love God has for us even as we completely lose the plot and * *, we find ourselves hating sin more and more so we can walk in his love more. This response has us plan to not place ourselves in a vulnerable situation where we will exploit our weakness. This has started with a growing hatred for loving self over Christ and now we are planning to walk in the light. That sort of behaviour modification has come from the right place, from the inside out. When we try to change the inside by outward measures we will fail as it isn't a work of the Holy Spirit.
A less realised truth
The Lord committed himself not to just die for me but to 'roll his sleeves up' and patiently hang around this dungeon called 'my flesh.' We know about the humility of God from Jesus' life but right now the Lord of the Universe has opted to work on the very parts of me that only offer a middle finger gesture to him. This commitment to me draws me to further abandon self and this process leads to transformation. The first stage of our getting better at abandonment of self-love is to admit it isn't * * that is the problem, it is ME! It's no use placing * * on the cross as some tell us to do, it is me, myself and I who needs to die. This is never comfortable but better understood, we can embrace those painful and turbulent times knowing the Lord is working for our freedom.
This is 'the cross' in your life.
Gary Ward
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