No Longer a Sinner - Reaching Perfection through Christ in Us

 

Standing alone, we are not sinless, because we are not equal to God. We cannot trust in our self for salvation (Proverbs 28:26; John 15:5). Righteousness is not attained by human self-effort (Galatians 3:1-3).

The shelves of self-help books in the stores can give us a clue about what we need to change, and we may even discipline some character flaws out of our personality. However, we cannot perfect our self (2 Corinthians 3:5).

Paul chronicles his struggle with sin and death in Romans 6-7. In his desperation as a wretched human being, he calls out for deliverance (Romans 7:19).

It is then that He realizes that the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ our Lord already delivered us from bondage to the law of sin and death (Romans 7:24-25, 8:2).

God gives us His grace and saves us through faith in Jesus’ work on Calvary’s cross (John 1:17; Ephesians 2:8). We no longer need to focus on sin or the world, but on the righteousness of Christ in us, who is our hope of living in eternal glory (Colossians 1:27).

Jesus in us already overcame sin, death and the devil by His death and resurrection (Colossians 3:15; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8). Therefore, God’s Spirit changes us over our lifetime by His anointing in our spirit, soul and body (Romans 8:11; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

We walk in His ways by His Spirit within us (Ezekiel 36:27). We simply heed God's conviction, obey His direction and live through faith in His faithfulness, so that we are able to walk in His holiness one moment at a time (Romans 1:5; 16:26).

Prayer:

Father God, create in us a spotless heart, and renew a righteous spirit within us (Psalm 51:10). Work in us according to Your good pleasure and perfect us until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6, 2:13). Give us Your power and anointing to accomplish Your will in the earth each moment of our day (Ephesians 3:16).

Thank You that You already perfected our spirit, because we are born again by Your Spirit - through justification; once we see Jesus, perfection will come to our body through glorification; and You perfect our soul – our mind, choices and emotions – from one stage of glory to another through a lifetime of sanctification.

Thought for the Day:

Christ in us is greater than both our carnal nature and also all of the powers of darkness in the world. - I John 4:4

No Longer a Sinner - Making Positive Changes

Once we come to Jesus Christ for our salvation, our spirit is alive in Christ and sin is gradually exorcised from our soul (Ephesians 2:5; Philippians 3:12-15). This requires no self-effort; the Spirit begins and completes this work in us (Galatians 3:1-3).

Our role is simply to cooperate and obey as we walk in the Spirit each moment of the day. Christ is our whole life and we are drawn away from Satan's dominion over our life (Colossians 3:3-4).

We do not need to make goals for our self and obsess over them. We have no need to develop problem solving skills in order to perfect our self.

We did not save our self, and we cannot perfect our self (Galatians 3:1-3). We usually struggle with reaching our goals and we get defeated by our failings.

Scientist tell us that the habenula in our brain records our failures and then inhibit our future attempts to succeed in that same area; this implicit memory prevents us from repeating our failures, but also hinders our attempts to perfect our performance.

Christ suffered in every way just like we do and He can relate to our issues in this life (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was tempted, but did not sin; and He abides within us, helping us to maintain our purity.

God's Spirit will give us new habits to overcome past failings; He enables us to thwart temptations by giving us a motivation to serve Him rather than the flesh.

The law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). We are free from sin’s torment and temptation (Romans 6:7, 18, 22; Acts 26:18). Christ in us then expresses Himself through us (Romans 5:10; Matthew 1:21; 1 John 4:4).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that we do not have to sin. We can focus on the process of our spiritual growth rather than on our shortfalls. Help us to find a solution to overcome the sins, which so easily trip us up. Help us not to focus on the process, but rather on the outcome and to keep our eyes on You.

We know we cannot perfect our self, but as we acknowledge You before we think, act or speak, You will unveil Your plans for us and give us the strength to carry them out in Your will and way. We can celebrate even the smallest success when it comes from Christ in us. We give You all of the praise and glory that You deserve.

Thought for the Day:

Attempting to perfect our self may diminish our future chance to walk in holiness, since the perfection we reach on our own is done in the flesh and can also be undone by our flesh.

The Perfecting Work of Patience - He Who Began a Good Work

Is our salvation and sanctification our responsibility, or is it the work of God's Spirit within us? Some will say, "We are to work out our own salvation." (Philippians 2:12) Others will counter with, "It is the Holy Spirit who gives us both the desire and the power" to do that (Philippians 2:13).

Most people agree that salvation is through grace by faith; but believe that we have to work for sanctification (Ephesians 2:8). Yet, the foolish Galatians were reprimanded by Paul for attempting to perfect themselves through their own self-efforts (Galatians 3:1-3).

Paul was amazed that they actually believed they could sanctify their life by their works. Paul constantly reminds the early Saints that nothing in our Christian walk is by works, because then we could boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

God is not interested in our ability, but in our availability to His Spirit. The works of the flesh can only be crucified by the work of the Spirit (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:16). We live and walk only by the Spirit of God; otherwise, we spin our wheels and end up exhausted (Galatians 5:25).

We boldly claim that we can do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13); but when we put the emphasis on "we" can do all things, we fail time and again. We pull our self up by our boot straps until they are totally worn off.

This verse is actually saying that we cannot do anything except "through Christ". When we completely capitulate to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to both save and perfect us, we enter God's rest (Hebrews 4:10).

It is the Spirit, not our self-effort, which transforms us from one stage of sanctification to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18). Even the armor of God, which Paul encourages us to wear, is the work of God's Spirit in our life (Ephesians 6:10-18).

God's Spirit transforms our mind to the mind of Christ (Romans 12:2). He also renews our character with the divine nature of Christ (2 Peter 1:4). He who began the work of salvation in us, will continue to perfect us through His work of sanctification (Philippians 1:6).

Prayer:

Father God, we humans do not want to admit that we are helpless without a Savior. We want to believe that even if we cannot save our self, we can attempt to perfect our self through our diligence and self-discipline by obeying Your Word.

Remind us that we can do good works only as we abide in the faith of Christ within us (James 2:17). We could not justify our self by keeping the law and we cannot sanctify our self through self-effort either. Keeping the law never gave us life prior to salvation and there is no way that walking in obedience to the law can perfect us after salvation. Without Your Spirit doing the sanctifying work, we are totally lost and undone.

Thought for the Day:

When we do choose to obey, the desire and ability is generated by God's Spirit within us; God has a perfect plan for our life, and we find it only when we walk in the Spirit each moment of the day. - Ephesians 2:8-10