http://www.biblegateway.com/
If God were to give you a name to describe your spiritual nature, what would it be?
It might be, say, “faithful in all
things”; it might be “cheerful
encourager”; it might be “gives thanks
in all circumstances”; it might be
“always willing to help”.
I tend to think though, especially in the
light of the book of Romans, that there would be a two-fold name and that for
the positive name God gives us, there might also be a negative. So, we might be a faithful worker in God’s
eyes, but He who sees and knows all, might also call us “judges others too
easily”. Or maybe He would say we give
generously but fall to the temptation of gossip.
Because that’s what we are, in the light of
these verses; we are a creation always
in tension between living by the urging of our mortal bodies, and the calling
of God to our spirit, to a nobler, holier life.
We are a fallen creation, redeemed by Christ into a new covenant by His
death; yet still in the throes of our
struggle for perfection in our earthly, imperfect natures and bodies. And the two are pretty much always at cross
purposes. “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the
flesh, God did by sending his own Son as a sin offering. Those who live
according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the
Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires”.
We aspire to live the Christian life, with
it’s difficult precepts and values; yet
we often fall short of the mark. We can
never fulfil all the requirements of the law perfectly.
And that’s what these verses are on
about. Even though we fall short, we are
no longer condemned by the law because Christ has gone on ahead for us, winning
our redemption with his death. Our
reconciliation to God is assured by our acceptance of this sacrifice for
us.
But that still leaves us with the constancy
of our fallen human nature in the here and now.
We tend to have good intentions of
following Christ, yet sometimes no matter how hard we try, we don’t do the
things we WANT to do, but do the things we don’t want to do.
I believe we each have a weak spot; a tendency to a particular kind of “clay
foot”; a chink in our armour through
which the devil can fire his darts; he’s
a cunning being, and he knows exactly where to fire his dart so that we are
brought low. He loves to have us live
without the wings of the Spirit at our backs.
So back to the name for a minute. I think the name God would give me would be
“scaredy-wearedy rabbit who freezes in the headlights of the world’s b-doubles
but gets back on the road anyway”.
Because my besetting sin… and that’s what
I’m getting at… that each of us are prone to certain “sins” or ungodly
attitudes which, unless we’re on our guard, can take us away from living in the
Spirit. “The mind governed by the flesh
is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace”.
My besetting sin is fear. I am a fearful person. I’m like a little bunny who ventures
diffidently out of her burrow, never wanders far from her hole, fears the big
wide world; likes the safety of her comfort zone. And yet, it’s the strangest thing…. my life
has been a series of circumstances which have caused me to have to venture
farther and farther away from the safety of my burrow. In fact, I’ve lived most of my life outside
my comfort zone. Through these
experiences, I’ve always reacted first with fear, , as I’ve scampered back to
the burrow, like a timid little rabbit.
It’s seemed like the circumstances of my life is represented by a great
hunter, aiming his huge shotgun at my poor little head. At each frightening event, back I go to the
burrow. But God, the immeasurable source
of power, has visited me in the dark and the terror and said “Fear not
Suse. I am with you”; and “I have sent the counsellor, the comforter
to fortify your soul, to keep you deep in the presence of God” So, with courage, out I go again, into the
harsh light of strife and conflict, out into the battle zone of being bullied
or hurt; out again into the dark night
of sorrow, to face my fears. And so, over the years, I’m beginning to see that
what I thought of as terrible experiences allowed by God (and they were still that) were ultimately pathways to
overcoming my besetting sin. They were
the miracle of God using life’s experience to heal rather than hurt; to enable, rather than disable; to empower;
to overcome fear and live in the clear, peaceful stream of the spirit,
no matter what the circumstances.
So in a sense these verses about no
condemnation, can be applied to our daily spiritual life in the here and now,
not just our eternal salvation when we die.
I would be remiss if I didn’t draw your attention to the rest of the
verses; because it’s the Sprit who
accomplishes our transformation. “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but
the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace”. “You are not in the realm of the flesh but
are in the realm of the spirit if the Sprit lives in you. And even though your body is subject to death
because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.”
Remember the TV show “The Nanny”. It’s on again on one of the digital stations. It’s a silly American sitcom about a woman
who arrives at a rich man’s door to sell make-up and ends up staying to be
Nanny to his children. Over time, the
two begin to fall for each other, but Max, the children’s father is slow to
realize. One day, the Butler
And in a sense, this is what the Spirit
tries to say to us “work with me...give me your life; give me your soul; give me your fears; let me live in you and infuse your life with
my strength because I have already overcome all the besetting sins of all
mankind.” There is nothing which can
take hold of our lives, either fear or pride or lust or jealousy or any of the
other deadly sins, which the Holy Spirit hasn’t already conquered. God made the rules; we break them. Jesus makes our atonement but
it’s the Holy Spirit who gives us access to the power to live by Christ’s commands.
So, what would be your besetting sin? What do you think is the thing most likely to
come between you and the risen, victorious Christ. It’s helpful to have an
inkling where the chink in our armour is – we can be on guard; we can confess it continuously as we need to.
May the HS himself be the indwelling bridge to take you from whatever tempts you to sin, to that triumphant happy, spirit-guided life.
No comments:
Post a Comment