So why do we still agonize over it? Why are we such an anxious and worrying generation? Why do we want our lives to be as perfect as can be with complaining, jealousy, anger, and idolatry?
Galatians 5:19,20
"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,"
We sin because we lose sight of Christ and the perfection found only in Him.
Even as Christians I see, especially in myself, this transcendence into sin despite what we know by faith. We know that God will take care of all our needs, yet we frantically snatch that responsibility from Him and make it ours, quite pathetically too as we can all attest to. We are programmed to think that how we feel is what we are. But Christ has said that who we are is not our bodily desires, but in Him we are free. (Google "in Christ bible verses" if you're too lazy to read the bible about who we are in Christ, and you will find a nice list of Christ-like attributes that should define us by faith and not necessarily by feelings.
I like days when I wake up, feel refreshed, drink a deep dark roasted cup of coffee, and get into the Word of God. I start feeling great! I feel good, good vibes, strong, and slightly on the verge of reaching perfection. Then I think about sin, my sin, and how history has shown just how fragile I am. Although I may feel unstoppable and utterly determined to live "perfectly" as a follower of Christ in one moment (as described above) I know all too well how quickly things can change. I've been in the Pit, as described by David in the psalms, and I am aware that I am incapable of maintaining perfection in this life where sin hangs on to all the different parts of my mind and body. I am incapable, but He is capable. Immediately one might think that this means that what one cannot do Christ can, and in a sense that is true. However, the bigger miracle is often shirked; that being that in Christ whatever happens we remain steadfast in faith, brazenly fixating our mind's eye on Christ as capable to govern as He sees fit while we remain loyal to Him as God. Now the difficulty of course is that we already want a tangible or visible indication that all will be well if we let God be God, but faith is invisible. We cannot have faith if we constantly search for something to produce this faith. The only resource for faith is Jesus, who also happens to be invisible, frustrating, I know! But it is frustrating because we want faith to be visible, as Thomas did when he said that he would only believe if he saw Jesus for himself. So therein lies the problem. Belief. Belief comes through faith. If we really absolutely believed in Christ then we would not sin, because in Christ we would be fully satisfied. Is that true? If not how would you refute it? You might say, "well only Jesus is perfect", to which I would agree but Jesus Himself says that in Him we are perfect. So clearly you and I still sin, does that mean we are not in Christ? So then what does "in Christ" mean?
Or perhaps we should first define what "perfect" is. I would go so far as to simply state the human desire for perfection as the following:
1. Satisfaction or contentment
2. Happiness
3. One's meaningfulness (which is often instated through one's achievements and reached goals)
It would be nice to think that we could have some sort of tranquility between life as a slave to sin and life as a slave to righteousness. If somehow we could be neither and just be some other "free" thing, but what is freedom?
- ability to act freely:a state in which somebody is able to act and live as he or she chooses, without being subject to any undue restraints or restrictions
- release from captivity or slavery:release or rescue from being physically bound, or from being confined, enslaved, captured, or imprisoned
Those two definitions seem conflicting to one another. If one person or country is free by the first definition, then another person or country becomes a slave by the second definition. If we were all "free" to do whatever we wanted then anarchy would ensue. If you need examples of this, you can study history or just visit a country where traffic lights and speeding are not regulated.
But there is no such "freedom" to be found. It is like asking if one can be half dead and half living. The human is either slave to sin or slave to righteousness. We will do things habitually by our own standards, or we will do things habitually by God's standards. Why then, you might ask, do we even consider there to be a "freedom" from both? What is that? I think that's a lie. I think the enemy will use such ambiguous lies to get us to remain as slaves to him rather than to God, for being a slave to perfection means we are habitually turning perfect...I'm which case such slavery becomes perfect (by the definition given above). Whereas slavery to sin leads to habitually destructive behaviors until death. (Sin being the deeds of the flesh such as seenin the Galatians verse above)
So, to me, it would suffice to say that a slave to sin vs a slave to righteousness is also saying choose death vs life.
I think it is very helpful to work out these things in your mind in order to understand that a life dedicated to Christ is not the laborious thing you might make it out to be, and the life dedicated to gratifyingly the deeds of the flesh are not as gratifying when seen to the end result: death. Now of course we all will die, believers and unbelievers alike. Eventually, whether by old age, accident, sickness, suicide, or murder, all human beings will succumb to biologically ceasing to exist. No can refute that. The Christian, however, being a space to righteousness, or choosing life, will have reached their final result of perfection in Christ in eternal Life.
"Life" being defined as heaven, "heaven" being defined as "forever with God (our loving Father)".
The slave to sin will have reached their final result in death. "Death" being defined as "hell" and "hell" being defined as "forever with satan (who torments)".
So there are the two choices.
It would be seemingly nice to think there were other options, like reincarnation as a cat or other animal, or maybe going to heaven with 500 lovers at your disposal, or whatever else other religions/beliefs propose. But go with the one that makes the most sense, because if you were given the capacity to think, then think. Take whichever option you want to examine, such as Mormonism, and thoroughly trace back the beginning all the way to the end, and if what you find makes more sense in that then by all means take that route. You only have yourself to blame if you shirk that responsibility. A genuine faith is propelled by a genuine understanding. And understanding is..well understanding, haha there is very little room for apathy or laziness in understanding.
Perhaps it's not as difficult as it may seem. Perhaps faith propels understanding so we won't have to study for ourselves all the different religions in order to come to the conclusion of choosing Christ. (Although it just so happens that there are countless theologians throughout history who have done an extensive amount of studying for us to provide theological information as well as personal experiences (their lives) to help us navigate a little more quickly.)
However, if even that seems too uninteresting, laborious or not motivating then a sure way to narrow your decision is to look at yourself. I don't mean your appearance in the mirror, but I mean the person on the inside. Hope is the light in life, it gives us a reason to continue, and for believers that hope is Christ (who is eternal). For unbelievers that hope may be humanitarianism, wealth, accomplishments, or even charity. All if which end at death for that unbeliever. You cannot carry your good deeds into death, and if you think you can then it is a rather ambiguous guess that you rely on. Eternity is not something I really want to bank a guess on, especially my own. But hey, if you're willing to bank your eternity on an ambiguity, as nice and comforting as it might be, then I sincerely hope you get that, but moreso I fear for you because ambiguity is terribly unstable, unreliable, and completely ....ambiguous!
So for those who choose to make eternity less ambiguous, I urge you to either gain understanding through external resources, but if not then at least through the internal resource. Both are equally laborious though. One is more physical laborious while the other is more mentally laborious. However, both help to make belief in something more than the fickle feeling it is often resigned to.
(End of long tangent regarding unbelievers; back to perfection in Christ-- speaking to professed "believers")
How does one get faith?
Romans 10:17
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."
I want to be free from sin, to change areas in my life that are bad for me, but rather than focusing so much on wanting to be free I am going to start focusing on Christ. Hearing His words in scripture, which are God-breathed, meaning God spoke them and so they have eternal value as truth, are what Romans 10:17 say will produce faith in me.
Faith and Waiting
I should have titled this blog "faith and waiting", but I wanted to emphasize that the perfection we all seek (by the definition above) is and can be had in only Christ Jesus, and nothing else. Perfection being synonymous to "meaning", "happiness", and "contentment". All of which are fully attained at the coming of Christ, but meanwhile habitualized through faith in this life. In other words, we practice becoming people who live "in Christ" by looking at Christ, through the lens of faith. When idols pop up we look at Jesus, when anger arises we look at Jesus, when lust or impurity arises we look at Jesus, when jealousy or envy arises we look at Jesus, because in Him alone are we made perfect, the real perfect without quotations.
This looking at Jesus takes WAITING.
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. WAIT for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, WAIT for the LORD.
(Psalms 27:13-14 NASB)
Jmegrey
Upon looking more and more closely at myself I find a very real brokenhearted mess, and a crushed spirit. However, faith (hearing the word of God) revives me daily and shows me that God is near to me. My hope is that God would increase my faith as I read His word more and more, and that I begin, by looking at Jesus, to habitually enslave myself, one area at a time, to Him and thus to perfection. We all long to be perfect, because He is perfect.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
(Psalms 34:18 NASB)
This was quite the long thought relaying, but I can honestly say that this is my desperation. I am compelled by my desperation to write, and that desperation is to know my invisible God more for the sake of my life. Quite frankly I cannot live without God.
So here's to faith and waiting for perfection in Christ alone.
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