It is found on a little banner that one of my children brought home from Sunday School a few days ago. At the time, I simply glanced at it and hung it on the front of our refrigerator. But throughout the week, I have interacted with this simple truth as I've prepared meals, loading and unloading the refrigerator, and it has infused me with such hope and peace and joy this week!
Are you ready for it?
Okay...here goes...
Seems simple, eh? Oh, but this truth is one of the most liberating truths I have encountered in a long time!
You see, while we as Adam's offspring are infected by sin...and while God's standard which He holds out to us in His Word is nothing short of perfection and utmost heart-and-soul-level obedience...there is a missing truth which makes what could be a very burdensome and ceaseless cycle of striving-failure-repentance-and restoration into an easy and joy-filled life as a Christ follower.
And simply put, it is that God helps us obey Him. You see, the same grace that saves you is the same grace that sustains and enables you to live the life Christ calls you to live.
And that, dear one, is soooo freeing.
How does this happen? I mean, how does God help us obey him?
The prophets spoke of it centuries before the advent of Christ when they gave us glimpses into the new covenant. Jesus told his followers about it as He was preparing to ascend into Heaven. Paul explored it in his epistles. In fact, it is THE mystery of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, as stated in Colossians 1:26-27...
"the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Did you catch it?
CHRIST IN YOU
You see, with Christ inside us as the Holy Spirit, we are equipped and enabled to do every good work God has chosen beforehand for us to do (Eph 2:10).
The prophet Ezekiel put it this way: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
The prophet Jeremiah put it this way: "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Jeremiah 31:33)
Through the work of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are no longer hearts of stone, but of flesh, sensitized to hearing and obeying God's Word. God's law is written on our hearts and is a part of us as we stand in the identity of being people of God. As you know what? God even helps us become broken over our sin and repent of it! Check out this liberating truth from 2 Timothy 2:25b-26:
"God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will."
Do you see it? Do you see the grace and the mercy of our Lord as He gives us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)??!!
So, again, I go back to the simple truth my children (and their Sunday School teachers) blessed me with on Sunday.
God Helps Me Obey Him
And that, dear friend, is some of the best and revolutionizing news I have heard in a long, long time...and I trust it will be for you, too!
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