Is Being A Christian Working For You?

…come, follow Me. —Luke 18:22

"One of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of our own individual temperament. We make our temperament and our natural desires barriers to coming to Jesus. Yet the first thing we realize when we do come to Jesus is that He pays no attention whatsoever to our natural desires. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (see Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you— and His experiments always succeed. The one true mark of a saint of God is the inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently, there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus. If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, “Come,” then He will continue to say, “Come,” through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ’s “Come.” That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus." - My Utmost For His Highest 

Have you ever said or perhaps heard someone say, “That is just the way I am” or “That is how our family is” Romans 12:1-2 says that we are to offer ourselves to God and be transformed and not be conformed to this world anymore.  If we are satisfied with our lives when our lives are inconsistent with the expressed Word of God and life of Jesus it is because we have focused on our flesh – our old nature.  We are content with it or perhaps, worse, think it inescapable.  If I asked you, “Do you believe the Word of God is truth?”  My guess is that you would say yes.  Then I would say to you … “If you are a Christian then the Word is true for you.  God has given you the supernatural capacity to be and do.”  So what is the problem? The answer is surrender to our new life.  We have found comfort in the “old life”.  

“If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation – like a butterfly [my example] – old things have passed away and all things are becoming new!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Let me tell you that if you are not willing to seek after those things that will strengthen you in your new life then you will live your life with both feet firmly planted in your old nature, all the while wondering why being a Christian is not “working for you”.  There is a tension in all of us between fear and faith.  To let go and let God requires faith and surrender.  There that word is again.  

"Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?" - Matthew 16:24-26 

You must say no to your old nature and the way you do that is by saying yes to God. Paul wrote in Romans 7 that he does the things he does not want to do and does not do the things he wants and knows to live like that are consistent with his Faith.  Then he says that answer is Jesus.  Nothing has changed … the answer for you and me is the same as it was for Paul. It's more of Jesus and less of me.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone