“I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal
as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me.
To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible
for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own
body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and
boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian
can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the
responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our
thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19).
We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But
most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in
judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn
things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to
do them.” CHAMBERS
I have often shared Romans 7 with Christians when talking
about the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit in us.
(Romans 7:15-25) “For
what I am doing, I do not understand. For
what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. […] But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin
that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good
dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do
not find. For the good that I will to
do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I
do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in
me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do
good. For I delight in the law of God
according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through
Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin.”
It is not Paul’s excuse for sin, but the realization that
through Jesus, he no longer has to be a slave to the desires of his flesh. And so it is for you and me. We should stop making excuses for our sin ..
there was a comedian years ago .. Flip Wilson .. who coined the phrase “The
devil made me do it!” Well, we make that claim each time we excuse our sin as
unavoidable. We are no longer owned by
the devil, but are children of the most high God, purchased by the blood of
Jesus Christ. We must keep that in mind
the next time a temptation comes our way.
ELGIN
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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