Heart Tracks - Inevitable?

"Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:11...."If we see ourselves as sinners trying to be better Christians, that is how we'll live. If we see ourselves as sinners who were buried with Christ and raised to new life, that too is how we'll live." Chris Tiegreen

It is a great tragedy in the church that so many seem to have resigned themselves to a pattern of failure, to a pattern of sinful living. They seem to see this as inevitable, and point to Paul's writing in Romans 7, where he tells of his ongoing struggle with sinful behavior. He wants to do well, but his sinful nature prevents it. Somehow, those who hold to this never seem to read beyond the 23rd verse, because beginning with verse 24, he writes, "Oh, what a miserable person I am. Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God, the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord." Then he moves into chapter 8, which is vivid portrait of what it is to live in the Spirit of God.....and to break free of all those patterns of sinful behavior. It is not a matter that we cannot sin, but that we don't have to. His Word says that, "It's for freedom that He set us free." Not just by our position in Him, but by our experience in Him as well. We are not sinners trying to be better followers of Jesus. We are sinners saved by grace, transformed by grace, and having the power of His resurrected, eternal life.....right now! Christ's own words resonate with this truth, as do Paul's, John's, Peter's, and countless others who came after them. James S. Stewart said, "You do not need to wait...to begin living eternally." So why do we wait?

I have long believed that we keep asking for what He has already given. We ask for a victory that He's already won and given us. We ask for an abundant life that He has already poured out for us. We ask for a wholeness that He has already given full provision for. We're like the Israelites who stood at the border of the promised land, and who heard the Father ask, "How long will you put off entering into the land that I have (already) given you?" The life we keep asking for has already been given us in Jesus Christ. Why do we keep "putting off" our entering into it? Why do we believe that the life depicted in Romans 7 is the best He can offer us? Why do we believe that the life in Romans 8 is beyond us? Why do we keep seeing ourselves as we are without Him, rather than who we are in Him? In Romans 7, Paul struggles to be a follower of the King. In 8, he is empowered by His resurrected life to be one. Which are we?

There will be struggles of growth in grace this side of eternity, but they are not meant to be patterns of defeat, but stepping stones of victory. Victory that takes us ever deeper into the spiritual "land" that He has given us in Christ. The Israelites fought battles to secure that promised land, but victory in those battles was already theirs. Sin, defeat and failure are not inevitable, but victory is as we continue to receive His Life and Spirit abundantly as He gives them abundantly. He said, "Freely I have given, freely receive." Stop standing at the border. Enter in.

Blessings,
Pastor O