I'm not perfect.
I'm not even close to perfect.
But Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross wipes my sins as far as the east is from the west, and I stand righteous and clean before God.
I don't have worth without Christ, but in Him I am a beautiful, radiant, redeemed daughter of the King.
Sometimes I have to remind myself of these things, because it can be so easy to feel bogged down by all the problems and sin in my life. Discouragement and condemnation do not come from the Lord. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)
Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit, though. If the Holy Spirit prompts me to repent of a certain sin, by all means, I should. But conviction and condemnation are two different things.
Conviction leads me to humbly repent before God and receive His mercy, grace, and forgiveness - then move on and ask the Holy Spirit's help for next time.
Condemnation leads me to despair because I just keep messing up, makes me feel like I am an awful person, makes me wonder if I'm truly saved, and leads me to think about how I can improve myself on my own. None of that is helpful.
People often think of the devil as someone who is standing there tempting us to go commit awful, worldly sins. He does do that when he can, of course. But for Christians, he is smarter. I may not be tempted to go rob a bank or shoplift, just because to me, that is so far off I wouldn't even feel tempted to do it. However, I might be tempted to be prideful, self-centered, or focus on self-improvement rather than asking the Holy Spirit for help. Actually, I am tempted to have these attitudes on a regular basis.
Do you see what I'm saying? The devil is smarter than we make him out to be. He has been studying human behavior since Adam's fall, people. He is not all-powerful, he is not all-knowing, and he stands powerless in the presence of our almighty King Jesus. But he's still smart, cunning, and knows how to get your goat if you're not careful. Mine too.
He knows that if he tells us "You didn't read your Bible as much as you should have this week" or "You are such an awful Christian; I don't even know how you're saved" or "Wow, they have just got it together and you don't" or "God is mad at you" or "You haven't changed at all since you got saved," that might mess us up more than tempting us to go do something ridiculous.
So we need to watch it. Memorize Romans 8:1, and when you start to feel condemnation, quote it. The devil wants you to feel defeated. He wants you to feel like you can never overcome certain sins in your life. He wants you to feel like you can never read as much of the Bible as you should, never pray enough, or never spend enough time doing spiritual things. He wants to make you feel defeated so you aren't effective! [Note: I would recommend reading a short book by C.S. Lewis called The Screwtape Letters to understand this more. It is an uncle demon writing to his nephew explaining strategies to bring humans down. It is extremely interesting and eye-opening.]
Remember - the evil one has no actual power over you. The only power he has is in deceiving you. When you believe his lies, then he has you in his grip. But greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world!
Where am I going with all of this? Well, lately I have been tempted in a sort of strange way. Let me try to explain this.
I have some godly friends, and I know some godly people. That's great, and is a source of great encouragment to me. However, the devil has been tempting me lately to look at them and how they have it all together and feel bad about myself. I have felt like I should dress better because they do, that I should talk differently or about different things than I do because they do (wow, that's quite a clause...), etc. I've been tempted to think I'm not good enough. That I'm not as good as they are, and therefore, I'm less valuable.
This is fruitless, pointless, and not from God! Hopefully y'all have experienced something like this before so you understand where I'm coming from. (Not that I want you to experience it, but you catch my drift.)
I have begun to learn Galatians 1:10 in a totally new light.
It says "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? ... If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Usually we quote this verse in the context of, I want to do what Jesus would do in this situation, and my non-Christian friends might laugh at me or intimidate me, but that's okay - I'm not trying to get the approval of them anyways. And it definitely fits there.
But I have started to learn it in the context of, I am not acting this way in this situation to impress my Christian friends, or the college I might want to go to, or y'all on blogger. I am acting this way because this is how my Lord would want me to act, and I do it for His approval alone.
So let's conclude.
1) Condemnation is not from God. Those who are saved by Christ Jesus are free from condemnation because He took it for us on the cross!
2) Conviction is a wonderful thing that leads to repentance and restoration. We should listen to the Holy Spirit for conviction about sin.
3) The devil is smart, and he wants to condemn you. KEEP ON THE LOOK OUT for this, and don't let him get away with it.
4) It is very possible to try to win the approval of Christian friends by acting a certain way, instead of acting a certain way to please the Father. We need to watch for this and make sure our motives are pure! Oh-my-lanta, I need to work on this.
Hope you are all having a great Monday! Leave a comment below if you have any thoughts to add, help to give, or have ever struggled with this.
I'm not even close to perfect.
But Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross wipes my sins as far as the east is from the west, and I stand righteous and clean before God.
I don't have worth without Christ, but in Him I am a beautiful, radiant, redeemed daughter of the King.
Sometimes I have to remind myself of these things, because it can be so easy to feel bogged down by all the problems and sin in my life. Discouragement and condemnation do not come from the Lord. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)
Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit, though. If the Holy Spirit prompts me to repent of a certain sin, by all means, I should. But conviction and condemnation are two different things.
Conviction leads me to humbly repent before God and receive His mercy, grace, and forgiveness - then move on and ask the Holy Spirit's help for next time.
Condemnation leads me to despair because I just keep messing up, makes me feel like I am an awful person, makes me wonder if I'm truly saved, and leads me to think about how I can improve myself on my own. None of that is helpful.
People often think of the devil as someone who is standing there tempting us to go commit awful, worldly sins. He does do that when he can, of course. But for Christians, he is smarter. I may not be tempted to go rob a bank or shoplift, just because to me, that is so far off I wouldn't even feel tempted to do it. However, I might be tempted to be prideful, self-centered, or focus on self-improvement rather than asking the Holy Spirit for help. Actually, I am tempted to have these attitudes on a regular basis.
Do you see what I'm saying? The devil is smarter than we make him out to be. He has been studying human behavior since Adam's fall, people. He is not all-powerful, he is not all-knowing, and he stands powerless in the presence of our almighty King Jesus. But he's still smart, cunning, and knows how to get your goat if you're not careful. Mine too.
He knows that if he tells us "You didn't read your Bible as much as you should have this week" or "You are such an awful Christian; I don't even know how you're saved" or "Wow, they have just got it together and you don't" or "God is mad at you" or "You haven't changed at all since you got saved," that might mess us up more than tempting us to go do something ridiculous.
So we need to watch it. Memorize Romans 8:1, and when you start to feel condemnation, quote it. The devil wants you to feel defeated. He wants you to feel like you can never overcome certain sins in your life. He wants you to feel like you can never read as much of the Bible as you should, never pray enough, or never spend enough time doing spiritual things. He wants to make you feel defeated so you aren't effective! [Note: I would recommend reading a short book by C.S. Lewis called The Screwtape Letters to understand this more. It is an uncle demon writing to his nephew explaining strategies to bring humans down. It is extremely interesting and eye-opening.]
Remember - the evil one has no actual power over you. The only power he has is in deceiving you. When you believe his lies, then he has you in his grip. But greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world!
Where am I going with all of this? Well, lately I have been tempted in a sort of strange way. Let me try to explain this.
I have some godly friends, and I know some godly people. That's great, and is a source of great encouragment to me. However, the devil has been tempting me lately to look at them and how they have it all together and feel bad about myself. I have felt like I should dress better because they do, that I should talk differently or about different things than I do because they do (wow, that's quite a clause...), etc. I've been tempted to think I'm not good enough. That I'm not as good as they are, and therefore, I'm less valuable.
This is fruitless, pointless, and not from God! Hopefully y'all have experienced something like this before so you understand where I'm coming from. (Not that I want you to experience it, but you catch my drift.)
I have begun to learn Galatians 1:10 in a totally new light.
It says "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? ... If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Usually we quote this verse in the context of, I want to do what Jesus would do in this situation, and my non-Christian friends might laugh at me or intimidate me, but that's okay - I'm not trying to get the approval of them anyways. And it definitely fits there.
But I have started to learn it in the context of, I am not acting this way in this situation to impress my Christian friends, or the college I might want to go to, or y'all on blogger. I am acting this way because this is how my Lord would want me to act, and I do it for His approval alone.
So let's conclude.
1) Condemnation is not from God. Those who are saved by Christ Jesus are free from condemnation because He took it for us on the cross!
2) Conviction is a wonderful thing that leads to repentance and restoration. We should listen to the Holy Spirit for conviction about sin.
3) The devil is smart, and he wants to condemn you. KEEP ON THE LOOK OUT for this, and don't let him get away with it.
4) It is very possible to try to win the approval of Christian friends by acting a certain way, instead of acting a certain way to please the Father. We need to watch for this and make sure our motives are pure! Oh-my-lanta, I need to work on this.
Hope you are all having a great Monday! Leave a comment below if you have any thoughts to add, help to give, or have ever struggled with this.
