Life is not meant to be lived alone. Life is not meant to be wasted. We, once saved, are not meant to remain in habitual sin. Yet, so often, we misunderstand the purpose of Christ's grace and mercy on the Cross. We fall into sinning that grace may abound. We claim to cling to Christ, but are not abiding in Him. We cry out to our Father for deliverance from sin that we hide in our closets and dark storage spaces, but we really don't want Him to take away this pet sin, this habit that has become so close to our hearts. We stop trusting Him to be the Good Father that we believed Him to be and buy into the lie that He is holding back from us. So we run to our addictions, to our vices and temptations, knowing that they only provide a temporary satisfaction, but not caring because at least there is "satisfaction." We forget that "those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:5-6). We forget that the Christian walk is not a one and done thing. We don't just pray a prayer at the beginning of this new life and again walk away from Christ. Jesus told us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. (John 14:15) This is not a call for legalism. This is a cry for relationship. We do not deliberately do things to our friends that we know they dislike. It's not because we are trying to earn their favor, but rather we are showing our love for them. With Jesus it is not much different, granted we may recoil at the thought of 'commandment' but He is not just our friend, He is also our Lord. No one can pluck us from His hand, but He can absolutely walk away from us. Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" (Matthew 7:21-23). It is not because He is unjust. Rather, this is because our faith is a two way street. If we don't walk with Him, pursue Him, live according to the His Spirit; we are walking in sin, pursuing sin, and living according to sin. It can be nothing else. There is only a two way street here. The one side leading to Christ and His glory, while the other leads to hell and God's wrath. Don't think for one second that this is peace. No. This is all-out war with the Deceiver. As John Owen said so eloquently, "Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Cry out for a thirst for Jesus. Beg Him for a love for Him that only He can give. He does, indeed, have water that can satisfy our deepest longings, but we have to ask Him for the desire for that water. He said we would never be thirsty again. That doesn't mean that we won't need water, but we won't be thirsty because we can find all that we need, whenever we need it, in Him. The Living Water. So abandon your pet sins and addictions, the ones you don't want people to know about but that you aren't about to let go. Open your clenched fist and drop this mud at His feet. Like Adam Raccoon, let go of the little red ball that isn't necessarily bad, but is distracting you from King Aaron. Reach up and grasp onto that scarred hand and don't let go, because He won't let go of us. Don't forget that we need Him, oh we need Him. Every hour we need Him. Our one defense, our righteousness, Oh how we need Him. (That was paraphrased from Matt Maher's song "Lord, I Need You" a desperate prayer for relationship with our Savior).
I hope you find this to be encouraging.
In Christ, the only Savior and our King,
Simeon Charles
