It is so important to be aware of the
importance of living your life submitted to the leading of the Spirit of God who
has sealed you until the day of your redemption. Living your life fully aware that you are no
longer bound to the way that you once lived.
Not trying to be good and do rightly, but yielded through the Spirit to
the One who IS Good. Let me use a story
that you are familiar with - Peter and his
transformation.
“Peter
said to Him [Jesus], ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’”
– Matthew 26:35
Peter was apparently convinced that he could do more than he
was capable of on his own. Fiercely adamant even. He was expressing what he
wanted to be true and was depending upon himself to make it happen.
“And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the
fire, looked intently at him and said, ‘This man was also with Him.’ But he
denied Him, saying, ‘Woman, I do not know Him.’ And after a little while
another saw him and said, ‘You also are of them.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I am
not!’” – Luke 22:56-58
So much for “I will not deny you.” We very often have the
right intention but fail to understand that our new life is
Spirit-dependent. That it is impossible
to live the Christian life in the power of our flesh and self-will. But we try
anyway, don’t we? Like Peter – facing the truth brings a feeling of shame and
guilt – knowing that we have failed the One we pledged our hearts to.
“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers
of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed
done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to
you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man
stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you
builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in
any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we
must be saved.’ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived
that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized
that they had been with Jesus.” – Acts 4:8-13
Same guy, different focus.
You may not have to stand before a court defending your faith, but you
stand before the world as a witness to your faith every day. Peter shrank away
from a woman by the fire but stood boldly before the religious leaders. The difference was the Spirit of God. As we live out our new lives, we must live
fully submitted to the Spirit of God.
You won’t do that if you ignore your faith except on Sunday or at the
dinner table. Stop trying to live a “normal” life where you make all the
choices and look to good only when you fail.
Oh – one other thing – we are all like Peter – it’s not just you. You
are a child of the King. You don’t have a signet ring and your finger, you have
the Spirit of God in your heart.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For
His Glory Alone
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