Spirit calls to spirit. Deep calls to deep. The only food that will satisfy the spirit is spiritual food. One who has received the nature of God by and through the blessing of the Holy Spirit, have as a deep desire that they please their heavenly Father. When we first receive His life, we are overjoyed with the knowledge that everything has become new and that all of the old things have passed away. We don't know exactly how this miracle has happened, but we receive this truth with great joy.
But soon we find that there are troubles, and that the old things, the things that caused us shame and even distress, the little sins and attitudes from before we knew Him, are still moving us and causing us to do things we know He is not pleased with. We have the assurance that our sins are forgiven, but do we know why? For His name's sake. Our sins are forgiven for The sake of His glorious name!
But if we know Him at all, if we have His nature in any degree at all, then we will be mortified at this state of affairs. The Holy Spirit will prick our hearts as we sin, and give us some small feeling of the way our Father sees these things. There are really only two choices in this common situation. We can either ignore our sins and the convictions of the Holy Spirit, or we can renew our efforts to live a holy and sin free life.
Both of these are ineffective, and in the first case we are denying the Holy Spirit's conviction, and in the second case we are doomed to failure in the attempt to live holy and free of sin. Both are destructive, but in different ways. The first places a barrier between our hearts and the leading of the Holy Spirit, which leaves us open for deception, as we are refusing the truth. The second leaves us in one of two places, both of which are disasters to our growth into the image of Christ Jesus. The first place is utterly dejected at our failures and failings, ultimately deciding that we will never be pleasing to Him, thus giving the whole thing up as hopeless. The second is to excuse ourselves and become judgmental of everyone else in an unconcious effort to make us look better in our own eyes, where we become judges of everyone else while not judging ourselves truly.
More later, if He allows.
In Christ
But soon we find that there are troubles, and that the old things, the things that caused us shame and even distress, the little sins and attitudes from before we knew Him, are still moving us and causing us to do things we know He is not pleased with. We have the assurance that our sins are forgiven, but do we know why? For His name's sake. Our sins are forgiven for The sake of His glorious name!
But if we know Him at all, if we have His nature in any degree at all, then we will be mortified at this state of affairs. The Holy Spirit will prick our hearts as we sin, and give us some small feeling of the way our Father sees these things. There are really only two choices in this common situation. We can either ignore our sins and the convictions of the Holy Spirit, or we can renew our efforts to live a holy and sin free life.
Both of these are ineffective, and in the first case we are denying the Holy Spirit's conviction, and in the second case we are doomed to failure in the attempt to live holy and free of sin. Both are destructive, but in different ways. The first places a barrier between our hearts and the leading of the Holy Spirit, which leaves us open for deception, as we are refusing the truth. The second leaves us in one of two places, both of which are disasters to our growth into the image of Christ Jesus. The first place is utterly dejected at our failures and failings, ultimately deciding that we will never be pleasing to Him, thus giving the whole thing up as hopeless. The second is to excuse ourselves and become judgmental of everyone else in an unconcious effort to make us look better in our own eyes, where we become judges of everyone else while not judging ourselves truly.
More later, if He allows.
In Christ