Thursday, July 21, 2016

Your Holiness Depends Wholly On God

My Utmost For His Highest
 
Blessed are the poor in spirit… —Matthew 5:3
 
“What good is there in telling me to be what I can never be— to be “pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8), to do more than my duty, or to be completely devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as my Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of a lofty ideal which only leads to despair. But when I am born again by the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come only to teach— He came to make me what He teaches I should be. […] The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces a sense of despair in the natural man— exactly what Jesus means for it to do. As long as we have some self-righteous idea that we can carry out our Lord’s teaching, God will allow us to continue until we expose our own ignorance by stumbling over some obstacle in our way. […] The underlying foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possessions; not making decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of absolute futility that we finally admit, “Lord, I cannot even begin to do it.” Then Jesus says, “Blessed are you…” (Matthew 5:11).” CHAMBERS
 
Do you struggle with trying to live the Christian life?  Do you feel like a hypocrite?  You profess one thing .. “I love Jesus” and yet you live a life that is in constant turmoil from the sin that hounds you?  The lesson there is that we need Jesus to live the new life that is ours.  Obedience is a product of faith not the root of it.  You do not have the capacity to resist sin today, any more that you did the day before you were born again.  Your new life is Spiritual.  Old things are passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17) meaning that you are living with a new set of rules.  You cannot do spiritual things without the power of the Spirit in you. God provides a way to resist temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Temptation is the first step on the path to sin. (James 1:14-16)  Read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5:2-16.  It seems like a strange teaching when first read.  It is spiritual truth about the spiritual life.  It all starts with depending only upon God and ends in the same place. Do you want your life to change?  Stop trusting in yourself to be holy and trust God who is Holy.  CHARLEY

No comments: