Colossians 1:13-14
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
How is it that we have fooled ourselves into believing that if we make promises and behave a certain way, that we are living out God’s best for our lives? Usually it plays itself out with church attendance and comparing ourselves to others. “If I go to church all the time and I act better than I did a couple years ago, or if I’m better than other people who attend my church, then I must be good.” We love to compare our strengths to other’s weaknesses, and then we naturally grow confident in our goodness.
Others try to behave and modify their behavior because they’re afraid of hell and God’s wrath. They believe that if they are good enough, they can earn their way out of hell. The problem is that heaven isn’t a place for those who fear hell; it’s a place for those who love God.
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t war against sin in our lives. I’m simply saying that the weapons we have are inadequate to overcome it. Without God transforming our heart and moving us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, we will simply pit sin against sin.
How many times have you seen people battling their fears and anxieties with control or manipulation; their lust with self-righteousness or apathy…no matter which one wins, sin still reigns.
Christ didn’t die to put us on a behavioral modification program, He died to transform us from the inside out. What if instead of focusing on changing our behavior, we focused on transforming our hearts? What if instead of trying to be better than someone else or better than we used to be, we tried to be like Jesus?
God, help us to trust in You alone to do in us what we cannot. Transform us from the inside out so that we can live the life that You created and redeemed us to live.
No comments:
Post a Comment