Learning to Come to the End of Yourself
Posted by Pastor Pat on August 16, 2010
Do you ever find yourself succumbing to fleshly lusts? Have you ever wondered why you find it so easy to do evil when the good is equally present? No matter how hard you try to talk yourself out of it, failure seems so inevitable; your frustration level is climbing; stress becomes a part of your every day life. The gap between what you know to be true and how you experience life is glaring and the schism is heart breaking.
I am confident that all who read this can identify with Paul’s dilemma as lamented in Romans 7:19. Those who do not identify fall into one of two categories: those who are spiritually dead as an unbeliever, and those who are spiritually deceived as a believer.
Honesty and transparency are difficult, for they leave us vulnerable. The alternative, however, is mask wearing, and I have always found mask wearing to be uncomfortable as well as stifling and “plastic.”
So, let us be honest – both you and I struggle. While we do not struggle with the truth claims of faith, we do struggle with our progression forward. We want to see Him and have Him use us in an unprecedented way. We want to see Him with the eye of faith. We want to believe that which awaits us can swallow up the trials of this temporal world. We want to believe that somehow in the midst of all this “craziness” God is in control. And yet . . . we struggle. We struggle at work; we struggle with our kids; we struggle with our spouse; and we struggle financially, emotionally, physically, and, at times, spiritually. We just flat out struggle. Life is hard; nothing appears to be easy. We want the supernatural and miraculous. We want God to snap His fingers and fix all of our problems. Yet despite all of these desires, it is still incredibly difficult to do right when wrong is so easy.
Such candid speech can leave us breathless. What if people knew what you were really like? Does that scare you? Friend, God knows, and if we would be honest with each other we would find that our
experiences are common to all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. If I am not mistaken, this is one of the points in First Corinthians 10:13.
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
So, in a sense we just “aired our dirty laundry.” Every one now knows what a loser you and I really are – so what! I believe Paul did the same in Romans 7: he admitted the struggle between what he knew as true (i.e., his theology) and what he faced in every day life (i.e., his experience/obedience).
Admitting the struggle is not failure. Transparent honesty is far better than tragic hypocrisy. Failure is never fatal. The point of the struggle can be seen in Romans 7:24 and 25:
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
We have to see ourselves as wretched before we will fully lean on Jesus Christ. The experiences of our lives show us that we cannot, but Jesus can. Our experience is a daily cry for help. The best activity we can engage in is one that allows us to see who we are in light of who He is.
I want an easy life. Moreover, if the truth be told, I want a perfect life. Fortunately, all I want and need I already have. As far as the sense experience is concerned, that too will come . . . in due time. Some day I will shed this “jar of clay” and will see Him face to face. In that day, I will be like Him for I will see Him (1 John 3:1-3).
So, be encouraged! Your daily “failure” is bringing you to the end of yourself and closer to Him. Always remember, “God is faithful, who will with the temptation provide . . . .”
By Pastor Patrick J. Griffiths. For more information see the Waukesha Bible Church series on Galatians.
