It is intimidating when you read the Bible and you come across a portion of scripture that says, Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect or Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world. When we come across such scripture, the mind kicks in and the first thing it does is argue with itself. On one side it says, we are taught that scripture is truth and God breathed and therefore this passage must be correct, and on the other side it says, impossible. Further more, because the natural outcome of our thinking is a stalemate, we then rely on clever excuses or ways around so that we aren't held responsible for carrying out such extravagant requests.
I've heard of people saying the word perfect doesn't mean perfect, to be honest it means complete but they use translations to get around it or drummed up excuses because they always look towards Biblical and daily failures as examples. Yet Jesus did it and He said to follow Him. Again a command from Jesus, God, Apostles and more to do things out of our ability.
If you walked up to someone and told them that you had not sinned in, let's just throw out a random number, 10 days; they would laugh at you and call you crazy in the head. They would tear you apart verbally and may even get infuriated. Why, because the thought of us, just plain Jane people, walking around without sin is ridiculous to those living in sin.
I struggled with this very thing for years and years. How in the world can I fulfill scripture when I can't even control my temper in traffic. Now that was what I used to say. The answer is two fold, yes we cannot fulfill those parts of scriptures that say be like God or Jesus under our own power or desire. No matter how hard we try, those demands on us will never be met by us. Then why ask it of us?
We must couple the requirements of being like Him with quotes like, live in the Spirit and not the flesh. We forget we have two powers at work here. We have our own power, often talked about as flesh, with its good intension and bad results. We cannot under any circumstance fulfill anything that has to do with God. Look at all the failed years before Christ. However, we have something more than what they had. We have the gift of the Spirit.
Why in the world did Jesus come to die? To bring us salvation right, yes but that wasn't all. He not only brought us out of death but He gave us the means to live. We have an example before us, Jesus, who never walked in His flesh but always in the power of God. He even said several times, if you hear me you hear God, if you see me you see God. He was fully man, born of a woman yet He was also born of the Spirit. He had a duel citizenship and He chose to be a citizen of God. Do we not have that same dual citizenry? We have the flesh with its desires but we also have been reborn in the Spirit. So now we have the same choice.
Paul wrote beautifully in Romans the whole process we travel on as those who have come to Christ. We died with Him, rose with Him and should now, like Him, pursue the kingdom of God. Again you say, I've tried and failed and like those trying to fulfill the law you have tried to fulfill righteousness through works in the flesh. Those that came before Jesus never had the Spirit so they never had a chance to couple faith with the Spirit. God will live in you only if you believe He will. Our down payment of the Holy Spirit at our rebirth was only a down payment of what could be possible. The Spirit is like the person who comes and and cleans up a house and stages it so it can be sold. He begins to clean it up right away and our cooperation in that process can either hinder our walk or help it. Letting God take control through Faith is like sitting in the driver seat but never touching the wheel or pedals. It's like a self driving car. We sit and watch as He lives through us. We can't grab the wheel or hit the brakes because if we do, we send a message to Him that we want to be in control.
Why do we want to be in control when our lives without Him are so chaotic. We walk around moaning and groaning about everything we come in contact with. Everyone gets on our nerves and we fight to get more because we think that will make us happy. However, if we just let Him take over, we get the benefits of His joy and peace and happiness. It takes surrendering, faith and revelation into what He is to get this walk right. Jesus did it and He asked us to do the same. As a matter of fact, He said we would do greater things than He did.
Can I, in my own understanding and power heel a blind person? Do you think if Jesus strolled up to a blind person and said, I got this. Stand back and see what I can do. Do you think He would have been our savior, no. He would have been like Samson or King Saul or David who had the opportunity to follow instructions or to step out into self. Jesus didn't however do this, instead He fully relied on the Father to work through Him to do all the miracles He did, to do all His teachings and to walk Him to the cross.
Can we not be like Him then. Can we never look at ourselves as victims of a tragic tale. Can we never give a second thought of how we are going to live today, knowing that He will live for us.
We can. We can be perfect, righteous and overcome the world by just living in Him and not in us. We can't try to do anything but have faith. We can't even ask God to help us overcome a sin. If He helps us, He helps our flesh and He won't do that. Instead of asking for help, just know He has it under control. What's the difference? Asking for help lends a helping hand, picks you up when you fall so you can fall again. Letting go and knowing He is in control keeps you from falling in the first place.
God reveal this truth to everyone.
To God be the Glory
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