…. your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
—Matthew 5:20
{CHAMBERS} “The
characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is
good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is
right-being […] Jesus is saying, “If
you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in
your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of
your mind.” Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing
to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him
to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His
redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as
pure and as simple as a child. The
purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and
that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption. No one
can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules
and regulations— He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be
interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus
Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature— He changes its source, and thereby its
motives as well.”
{ELGIN} (2
Corinthians 5:17) “Old things have passed away .. all things have become
new” (John 3) We are born again by the Spirit. This
new life is not a philosophy to be imagined, it is a reality to be lived. Jesus changes us from the inside out. Some things are oh-so-hard to give up. We have become dependent upon them. They define us. They may even bring some sort of perverted sense
of comfort and security. Even though they are
harmful and they bring pain, we fear that letting go of them will be even
worse. But Jesus bids us “Come”. (Matthew
11:28) “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you
rest.” There is a song – “All to Jesus I
surrender, All to Him I freely give. I
will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live. I Surrender all. All to Jesus, precious Savior, I surrender
all.” Are you willing to let Jesus
change you? It requires faith and an
attitude of total, not partial, abandonment.
Paul wrote about the struggle in Romans chapter 7. “I do the things I don’t want to do and the
things I want to do, I don’t do. Wretched
man that I am who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who
delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
We find deliverance through Jesus.
He is the only way we can find deliverance. You may think there is another way, but there is
not. You might try partial surrender, but it is not enough. You must lay your life down. It is an act of obedience and an act of faith,
all wrapped up into one.
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