For if you live according to the flesh YOU WILL DIE, but if by the Spirit you PUT TO DEATH the deeds of the body, YOU WILL LIVE.
Romans 8:10 (ESV)
This verse is the story of my journey. Its the story of my past, and will inevitably be the story of my future. I am living proof that it is wholly possible to come to Christ and yet still live according to the flesh. There are two paths: death now and life after, or death now and after. I came to realize that Christ was my savior when I was in the tenth grade. I had always grown up in church, I knew about the bible, I sang worship songs and I occasionally prayed. But while I was externally religious, I was internally devious. That part of my nature had not disappeared. Indeed, it was waiting for the right opportunity. My journey is one all too common in the american church. One of attempted behavior modification. I say attempted because behavior modification can never produce holiness. Only God can. Behavior modification (or the more historic term ‘legalism’) almost completely destroyed me. It was through my involvement in the Church of all places. It’s taken me a couple of years to recover (I’ve detailed that journey extensively on this blog). What is clear to me now is that only God can save.
What’s ironic to me is that I grew up singing all these songs about how I’m a sinner and I need Jesus. Yet, practically, even as I was singing those songs I believed I could live the Christian life on my own. I could force myself to become holy. The reality as I have come to experience it is this: I only have the power to destroy myself. We live in such a humanistic culture that says to us, “You can do anything you set your mind to”. It’s a lie. We as humans are capable of one thing on our own: Death. Physical death, emotional death, relational death, and ultimately, spiritual death. Look around, can we honestly say that the human race is better off than it was 2,000 years ago? I get it, none of us wants to need a savior. We don’t even like it when someone pays for our food at a restaurant. But we all NEED a savior because none of us innately has an ability to restore life other than Jesus.
And its not like this is that complicated. There’s a difference between complicated and difficult. Grace is an easy concept but hard to practice. Romans 8:10 is telling us that a life of behavior modification is death. Pure unadulterated death. However, it goes on to say that if we put to death the flesh and live by the spirit, we will indeed live. This is grace. To live by grace means to understand that we could not save ourselves, and as a result, we have a duty to give up our “rights”. Our rights to pleasure, our rights to prosperity, our rights to privilege, our rights to live as we please. As Paul says in one of is letters, we are to share in Christ’s crucifixion.
Its not easy, but its also not complicated. The call is clear: Pick up your cross and put to death the flesh. It won’t be easy, in fact, it will be impossible. But thats exactly why God promised to carry us onto completion.
Recent Comments