What’s Your Excuse?

~ Are You Pleasing God in Your Every Day Life? ~

This posting is about the very fundamental core principles of living the Christian life effectively.

God’s Expectation of His Children  ~  “The Kingdom of God is not just talking; it is living by God’s power” (1 Corinthians 4:20 TLB).

You Have NO Valid Excuse  ~  “Now you have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing His will are yours during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7 TLB).  “So don’t be proud of following the wise men of this world.  For God has already given you everything you need” (1 Corinthians 3:21 TLB).

Are You Struggling?  ~  So did the Apostle Paul, who sad, “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t.  I do what I don’t want to—what I hate.  I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking.  But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer doing it.  It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things.

“I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned.  No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right.  I want to but I can’t.  When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.  Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp.

“It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.  I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.  In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.

“So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin.  Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in!  Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature?  Thank God!  It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord.  He has set me free” (Romans 7:15-23 TLB).  All true believers can identify with this struggle, but have you grasped the reality of those last three sentences! 

The Refinement Process  ~  “Do you want more and more of God’s kindness and peace?  Then learn to know Him better and better.  For as you know Him better, He will give you, through His great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: He even shares His own glory and His own goodness with us!  And by that same mighty power He has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings He promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us His own character.

“But to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough.  For then you must learn to know God better and discover what He wants you to do.  Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have His way with you.  This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply.  The more you go on in this way, the more you will grow strong spiritually and become fruitful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ.  But anyone who fails to go after these additions to faith is blind indeed, or at least very shortsighted and has forgotten that God delivered him from the old life of sin so that now he can live a strong, good life for the Lord.

“So, dear brothers, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen, and then you will never stumble or fall away.  And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:2-11 TLB).

“But remember this—the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different.  Many others have faced exactly the same problems before you.  And no temptation is irresistible.  You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, for He has promised this and will do what He says. He will show you how to escape temptation’s power so that you can bear up patiently against it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 TLB).

The Bottom-Line  ~  God has pointed the way and He has given us the resources for victory.  It will be a struggle—but as the Apostle Paul points out victory in this life can be achieved.  The real questions are:  Where is your heart’s desire?  Are you progressing in Christ-likeness. 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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