very Worth repeating. This is what snares us and keeps us from advancing in Grace and knowledge.[/Q
You may have harnessed the energy of the flesh in an otherwise quite genuine desire to honor the Lord Jesus in your life. The flesh, which has its origin in Satan, will go along with you; to survive, it is quite prepared to engage in every form of Christian activity, even though this may seem to honor Christ.
The flesh will sing in the choir, teach Sunday school, preside at a deacons’ meeting, preach from the pulpit, organize an evangelistic crusade, go to Bible college, volunteer for the mission field, and a thousand other things, all of which may in themselves be otherwise legitimate, if only it can keep its neck out of the noose. The flesh will threaten, shout, strut, domineer, sulk, plot, creep, beg, plead, or sob, whatever the situation may demand in the interests of its own survival. By any and all means it will seek to cause every Christian to live by his own strength instead of by the power and grace of the Lord Jesus, and to conclude that doing so is actually a good thing!
The characteristic of the spiritually immature is that they are unable to discern between good and evil (Hebrews 5:13-14), and the baby Christian, like the foolish Galatians, “having begun in the Spirit” still tries to be “made perfect by the flesh” (Galatians 3:3).
We must be particularly patient with those whose lack of understanding allows a genuine love for the Lord Jesus to be satisfied with, and sometimes to be quite enthusiastic about, Christian activities involving means and methods which are heavily contaminated by the flesh. These are more deserving of instruction than rebuke, for they are still in their spiritual babyhood.
.....The flesh will seek to produce the most plausible arguments in justification of its own illegitimate activities, even though these activities are only what the Bible calls “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1; 9:14) and not the “good works” which are truly the work of God. “Good works” are those that have their origin in Jesus Christ, as Christ’s activity is released through your body because you present it to Him as a living sacrifice. You do this only by faith that expresses total dependence, as opposed to Adamic independence."
Major Ian Thomas: The Way Of The Flesh; from The Indwelling Life of Christ
Yes, that was me for many years and yes too...it took a revelation of the Spirit to accept the kind of love that grace unveils. And even when I first heard about God's unmerited love for me that would not be taken away, the enemy sought to steal it away because it was too good to be true. Grace doesn't make sense to the human mind. God really loves us individually, takes an individual interest in each one of us as if we just saved someone from a burning building and was appreciated. God appreciates us like that every day when we wake up. How is that possible? We didn't DO anything to merit such love.
Exactly what Major Ian Thomas described. Thinking the way God thinks is a new venture. And sad to say my many years of being a Christian were much like what is described here. Did all the church things, had the husband and family and church life. Had all the outside things but the inside was never growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I had no idea what else was I supposed to do?? I was doing what I set out to do from what I saw good Christians are supposed to do...Christian husband, Christian family, Bible church., Christian school, part of the membership, went to the meetings, sacrificed my time, Bible study classes that kept teaching the same things about service and sacrifice and duty and being worthy by doing my reasonable service... God had expectations, people have expectations... ultimately what happens to some Christians is - crash and burn.
But the awesome truth is Jesus did all of this for us and God loves His Son so much and wants us to love and magnify the Son in our lives. God knows how to change our hearts and by giving us this love and grace to see what Jesus sacrifice was all about. Then we can love Him and are able to love others. We can't do it ourselves without that revelation of His love through grace.
It is hard humanly speaking to get past the fact we don't deserve it. Everything we know about life is we do good and we get good/we do bad and we get bad. But let me say from personal experience once you crash and burn, you never want to go back to 'doing' the Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit. When must ask and allow the Holy Spirit to give us a revelation of that kind of love. Then by grace through faith, a change takes place in our hearts. We then see the futility of doing the Christian life without the power of His love and grace motivating and empowering us.
This is not a new fad., this is the gospel preached by Paul and it's why Paul was able to do the things he did for Christ. He really had a love for Christ and could sing in the prison and like Stephen could be ridiculed and killed and still think about his fellow Jewish brothers and sisters when he was stoned. That is all Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Hope meaning solid truth of what is revealed in you) That's why Paul said gladly will I boast in Christ. Without the power of the Holy Spirit's flowing rivers of living water out of your belly... we can't even imagine such faith and love. God is so far away without the Holy Spirit's revelation.
We can do what we are 'supposed' to do, but many like me will crash and burn. Those who have a stronger constitution and higher self worth will be able to do it longer and maybe all their lives here on earth until they meet the Lord. But then they will look back and realize how they missed out on having that joy while they lived on planet earth and while still do the works, but they could have counted for Christ and lasted. And could have brought more people to seek truth by how they loved from a true heart as Jesus loves. They will know us by our love for Jesus and one another.
And also, it is a daily dying to how we used to think. It's a daily learning how to repent of our old thinking and allow the Spirit to change and teach us how to utilize the mind of Christ we have been given when we got saved. (sorry this got soooo long, i got carried away)
