Friday, May 18, 2012

Don't Worry, Be Normal


Paul asked the question of the ages in his epistle to the Romans.

Romans 6:1 - "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?"
 

He also answered the question for us...

Vs. 2 - "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Sometimes it is confusing for Christians when it comes to dealing with sin, the sin nature, the new nature in Christ, the cleansing from sin, the admonitions to be free from sin, the establishment of man made doctrines telling you that you can never be free from sin, etc.

What is the "normal" Christian experience? What does God expect from us? 

John in his first epistle says: 

1 John 1:7 - "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

There it is. This is the expectation of God and the normal day to day experience of the Christian.

Follow Jesus. Stay in close contact with other Christians in fellowship of prayer and study of the Word. Live in the blood washed state of purity and holiness.

Understand that you CANNOT accomplish this daily or even momentarily in your own strength, power, or volition. You cannot will this to happen. You cannot determine this to happen.

Several thousand years of Jewish history says we can't. Remember the Ten Commandments? Remember how the Israelites failed to keep them? 

What were the two things they lacked that we have? Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Trying to live for God encompasses one thing and one thing only. That we follow Jesus. Period.

This is what Jesus meant when He instructed us to take up our cross daily and follow Him. It simply means that we keep our attention and faculties focused on what He accomplished for us on the Cross.

That's it. In Him all of the Laws of God have been fulfilled. Keep Jesus and we keep the Law. Keep Jesus and we please God.

This is "walking in the light". No toiling. No works. No self sufficiency. It's all Him. It's all grace. Grace is sufficient and grace is extended toward those who walk after Jesus.

It really is simple. When your attention is upon Jesus, and you have settled your craving of the worldly appetite, the desire to sin grows dim.



Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin<><
www.reallifect.com

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