Everyday of my life I have hoped in some way to have matured as a follower of Christ, yet everyday I fall short of the threshold set by Christ, the ultimate role-model. It seems futile for me to seek to be like Him, but it is possible! Futile, but possible?
My flesh is sold unto sin and I need no preacher to remind me of that; at least that has been the case for this Christ follower now threescore years in his journey. I find that I lack the power within myself to be like Jesus. I have proven beyond my ability to believe otherwise that I can somehow become free of sin as an individual.
What I am discovering however is that freedom from sin may not be the goal after all, but rather freedom in Christ. God forbid that I sin because grace abounds but when I confess my sin he is faithful and just to forgive me and to cleanse me from the guilt of that unrighteous deed, though mind you, not often the consequences.
My goal as a believer then is not to be sin-less but to be Christ-full, Christ in me the hope of glory. Opening my life to His presence rather than keeping my life from sin may be what God is after in my life. The latter may have at times inadvertently prevented the love of Christ from exuding from my live as it otherwise would have if my spirit had been relaxed in the assurance of His love and grace?
It seems that my attempts at understanding the doctrine of sanctification may have turned on me, producing a person who is much more intense than God would have, less joyful than His children should be and even more cautious and risk aversive than is required to commingle among sinners, the very pool to which I am called to fish!
It is His righteousness alone, already offered against my sins that will be the standard for my judgment at the end of my journey. It will be my works in His righteousness that will determine my reward. My goal of attainment of personal righteousness is a missed mark, given the fact that any I might bring would only provide for more filthy rags, heaped on the already existing pile of self-righteous religious acts, to be burned as hay, wood and stubble!
My task then is not to strive to be free from sin, for He has already provided that in God’s eye’s; mine is to be obedient to the voice I may now hear because I am free; a voice that abhors greed and injustice, errs on the side of generosity, cares for the dying, offers healing and remedy to those who suffer… a voice of love!
Joyful, joyful we adore thee!