One of the things I like to tell myself and others is that it is impossible to be perfect in our walk. While we should strive for perfection we should be encouraged in the knowledge that if our direction is forward, displaying the fruits of the spirit more and more as time goes by, then we can be assured and take courage that we are on the right path and our salvation is ensured.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
Here is a link to another blog entry that address this very thing. I hope you find it as useful as I have.
http://realchristianity.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/how-do-you-know-that-you-are-saved/
Friday, June 25, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
My Sanctification Walk: Sound Familiar?
How has your walk been since you came to faith and received Christ as savior? Let me make an analogy to demonstrate my walk.
Many of us have been to bowling alleys and have seen the bumpers put up for the kids when they are bowling to keep the ball out of the gutter and missing the pins. We have all seen the 3 year old standing at the foul line and dropping the ball on the lane where it will very slowly roll down the lane, bouncing off one bumper, and then the other, and sometimes due to a lack of strength or power the ball may stop or even roll backwards. Suddenly a friendly hand come along and gives the ball a gentle push to allow the ball to continue on it’s path down the lane to the pins.
The ball is me, the lane is the narrow path(Matt 7:14), the bumpers and the friendly hand is the holy spirit guiding me along my walk. When we receive Christ we are placed beyond the foul line and made righteous(2Cor 5:21) the ball bouncing off the bumpers is symbolic of the trials we face and God helping us along the way. When we sin and stop our progress, backslide even, the Holy Spirit is there to convict us, to repent and continue along the path to our destination.
This analogy is not only symbolic of my overall walk over the years but is very much symbolic of my daily walk. I am being completely honest here. If you say you don’t sin daily you are not being honest with yourself. None of us are perfect which is why we need a savior.
Even Paul struggled with sin:
Romans 7:18-25
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Take heart, you are not alone, you are not a failure, you are just another wretch saved by grace.
Part II next week.
I hope that I have helped somebody today. Until next time, May The LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.
Many of us have been to bowling alleys and have seen the bumpers put up for the kids when they are bowling to keep the ball out of the gutter and missing the pins. We have all seen the 3 year old standing at the foul line and dropping the ball on the lane where it will very slowly roll down the lane, bouncing off one bumper, and then the other, and sometimes due to a lack of strength or power the ball may stop or even roll backwards. Suddenly a friendly hand come along and gives the ball a gentle push to allow the ball to continue on it’s path down the lane to the pins.
The ball is me, the lane is the narrow path(Matt 7:14), the bumpers and the friendly hand is the holy spirit guiding me along my walk. When we receive Christ we are placed beyond the foul line and made righteous(2Cor 5:21) the ball bouncing off the bumpers is symbolic of the trials we face and God helping us along the way. When we sin and stop our progress, backslide even, the Holy Spirit is there to convict us, to repent and continue along the path to our destination.
This analogy is not only symbolic of my overall walk over the years but is very much symbolic of my daily walk. I am being completely honest here. If you say you don’t sin daily you are not being honest with yourself. None of us are perfect which is why we need a savior.
Even Paul struggled with sin:
Romans 7:18-25
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Take heart, you are not alone, you are not a failure, you are just another wretch saved by grace.
Part II next week.
I hope that I have helped somebody today. Until next time, May The LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.
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