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Religous: A new person
Pastor Don Porter
for South Peace News
Are there any perfect people alive today? Not in the opinion of Harvard University psychiatrist Jerome Groopman!
In his engrossing book ‘How Doctors Think’, he expresses agreement with the profound insights found in the Bible. He writes, “Everyone is flawed at some time, in thought or in deed, from Abraham to Moses to the Apostles.”
Are you happy with the way you are right now? Are there things in your life you would like to see dramatically altered? Perhaps, like many other people, you make bold resolutions whenever a new year rolls around. You make plans regarding what changes you want to make in the coming year, but it’s not long until you have gone back on those great resolutions. To gain the victory we need to make Jesus part of our lives.
Then there are people who say they are believers, but a month or two later, they go back to their old ways again. They say, “I tried Christianity, but it didn’t work for me.”
But in reality, they never really found Christ. Others will turn to God when they hit hard times. Awhile later, you see them going back to their old ways and you wonder what happened.
I would suggest many of these people never were converted at all. They went through the motions, but Jesus Christ never became a part of their lives. Often, they end up worse than before.
In the same way, as Christians we are often defeated in day-to-day living because we don’t really realize how many resources God has placed in our spiritual account. A lot of times we say, “God help me. God, give me this. God, give me that,” meanwhile, God is saying, “Will you please go check your account? I have deposited more than you could ever use. Check it out!”
Can you imagine a soldier fighting a battle with no ammunition, while he was sitting on a bunker filled with thousands and thousands of rounds of ammo, more than he could use in a thousand wars? He has more than he needs right under him, but he is trying to fight the battle without the resources he has. Our defeat in our battle with sin and temptation lies largely in our ignorance of the facts.
In Jesus Christ there is power to live a new life and to no longer be under sin’s (which is to do the wrong thing) control. That power is not in imitation; because you can imitate Jesus all you want and try to be like Him. The power comes from impartation. God has done something for you, and now it is for you to appropriate that divine provision.
It’s like running a marathon. In a race every muscle of the runner is burning. He can see the ribbon. He has only a few more feet to go in the race. He must press on.
It is the same in our lives as Christians. There are times when it just gets hard. But it is then that we learn what it means to walk by faith and not by feelings. You can’t live on an emotional high as a Christian. You must pace yourself in this race you are running. You can’t expect that every time you go to church, you will have some great emotional encounter with God. Sometimes you will, sometimes you won’t.
Growing up and learning to walk by faith are part of spiritual maturity. When you first made a commitment to Christ, you discovered the joy and wonderful peace that comes from being forgiven. But you must realize this is a walk by faith. You must press on even when it gets hard. Maybe, as you have been running, you have found yourself in a place where you are dragging burdens, sins, or other things along. Maybe you find you don’t even know why you are running the race anymore. Maybe you have become discouraged.
Look up and remember it is Jesus whom you are running for. Two thousand years ago, He loved you so much He went to the cross and died. He shed His blood for you. Then He rose again from the dead. Because He did that for you, you can live for Him today. He will give you the strength.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
The Scripture is full of descriptions of the believer’s new spiritual life. God promises He will give us a new heart. God says that He will “give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; [He] will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
God also will give us a new song. The Bible also promises there will be a new self.
As believers, our spiritual lives are new, but we still have the capacity to sin. And though we have the capacity of sin, the oppression and penalty of sin in our lives has been broken. However, sin’s potential has not been fully removed, because we have two natures within us that are constantly at battle: a new nature and an old nature.
As you know, it’s very easy to sin. It comes naturally to us. But the new nature doesn’t come naturally; it comes supernaturally. These two natures are battling, and each day, you determine which nature you are going to build up.
Which will prevail? The one you build up the most.
Every time you obey God and resist sin, you are building the new nature.
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