Have you ever just screwed something up to the point that you weren’t sure you could undo what you had already done so that you could do something different? Did you follow that? See, I made a mess out of that sentence! This is that time of year when we tend to make resolutions and ‘new’ commitments to begin doing some things, stop doing others, and do some things better. Sadly, most of our commitments will lack the necessary resolve and will fade about the time the Super Bowl rolls around.
We do that with God too. We make promises that this time we mean it when we say “I’m sorry” and I really won’t do that again! I started this post about 10 days ago. Actually all I had was the title and the first sentence – but anyway – I had two pieces of scripture that just kept going through my mind. First, in 2 Corinthins 5:17 we are told that in Christ, we ARE new already! This is huge when you think about this time of year and well intentioned commitments. In Christ, we are not new versions of ourselves, but rather new creations entirely! In my life, I have learned that God rarely stretches me through quick promises that I make to Him out of a desire to become more spiritual. For me, God has chosen to use the circumstances of my life and tensions that are created where my will and His will are in direct conflict. It’s in these moments of intense friction where the old (me) yearns to go in one direction, but the new (Jesus) pulls me in another. Every time Jesus wins, another masterful stroke is brushed in the portrait of this new creation I am becoming! But each time I win, the edges get blurred and the canvas smells of death. After all, the old me has been dead since the day I met Jesus – but here I go, dragging some rotting corpse into the picture somehow thinking it’s a better idea to listen to him than to Jesus. Go figure.
I know I’m not the only one who struggles with this – but perhaps this is too transparent for some. I struggle, I try, and I fail…daily! If you are longing to grow into the new creation God has designed you to be in Christ -you struggle, you try, and you fail…daily! Don’t feel pregnant about it – other awesome, imperfect, righteous, sinful men of God struggled too. Paul said he did even understand his own actions – that he didn’t do the things he wanted to. No! Instead he did the things he hated!
This leads me to the second verse that is on my mind. Revelation 21:5 says to me that I am going to continue to struggle with this tension as long as I am physically alive. The day will come when God supernaturally wipes out evil in every form and fashion. Until then, on a personal spiritual level – I will continue to wage war! The enemy is brilliantly crafty. His desire is to kill and destroy! Jesus wants me and you to have life!
