“Hello, my name is Beth and I’m a grateful
believer in Jesus Christ. And I struggle with…food issues, insecurity,
selfishness, pride, people pleasing…” There's the raw honest truth! The second part is different every week,
sometimes every day, because I'm a work in progress. But I'm glad to tell you
the first sentence remains the same; no going back.
I haven’t
arrived yet. For so many years, though, we in the Church acted as if we had. We
got saved, sanctified, and self-satisfied. In our hearts, of course, we knew all the
dirty little secrets about ourselves. Since no one was sharing, we thought no one else struggled
with them, so we put on a good face and went around looking like we had it all
together. All the while we were dying inside. The world wasn’t impressed, because
they either saw through our sham, or they thought they wouldn’t be accepted
into the club because they weren’t good enough.
When I was thirteen I asked Jesus to save
me from my own self-destruction. I was born again—into a brand new person. He transformed me; my life now has
meaning and purpose. He set me free from the weight of sin in my life. In a
sense, I am a recovered sinner. But I am also still in recovery, because as
long as I live in the flesh, I will continually be at war with the temptation
to sin--to withhold love, kindness, and forgiveness, against emotions that rage within me, and my own mind and selfish will.
Apostle Paul
said it well, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12-14).
So I’m a
grateful believer who still struggles. But the great news is I no longer
struggle alone, nor do I struggle in vain. If you know Jesus Christ you
understand this too. His power is available to us when we’re weak. We have
always been and always will be weak. We just haven’t always admitted it.
I think it’s
time the world knew that Christians, true Christians—not just those who slap on
the title, but the ones who truly, deeply love and long for Jesus to be Lord of
their life—are still in recovery, still fighting the battle. Our testimony is not how strong or perfect we are
in ourselves, but how strong and perfect our Savior is. He daily works His transforming
power in us to follow in His ways by His Spirit and His grace.
#overcomingsin #celebraterecovery #admityourstruggle #gratefulbelieverinJesusChrist
#overcomingsin #celebraterecovery #admityourstruggle #gratefulbelieverinJesusChrist
The closer we are to GOD the more the rest of it doesnt' matter. This I say to myself after a day of feeling overwhelmed and falliable. I try to be confident but sometimes situations come up that I don't handle very well and then I'm stuck admitting my faults. Aargh... its an ongoing struggle but I know that I am in GOD and He is in me. And if I give it to Him, He will handle it. That doesn't mean I won't have to face my "oops" but it does mean that I can always trust in Him. The rest is peanuts!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Trish. You are so right, as long as we stay close to God, we can let the rest fall away and just trust Him.
ReplyDeleteYes. Great blog. There is no retreat in time of war -- and this is war! Keep up the good fight, finish the course.
ReplyDeleteJoanne via email
Thanks for your raw honesty and lovely looking blog. Like everyone, I am recovering, thanks to the intercession of the Holy Spirit.
ReplyDeleteMarion
Thank you, Marion, I appreciate these encouraging words and confession of the Holy Spirit at work in you!
ReplyDelete