If at first you don't succeed...you're normal

Part of embracing the Warrior spirit is the "spirit" part.  My friend Jeff, of Barstool Pastor fame, was out of town over the weekend and asked me to fill in for him.  I picked a topic that has been a thorn in my side for quite a while, and when I was finished, I actually felt more encouraged.

I think this topic is appropriate to the Warrior Dash thing, because, like training for it, there have been so many times I've been determined to follow a course of action only to repeatedly fail.

Here are my notes from the get-together (and thanks to the Crew who showed up for the support).  I'd be glad to field any questions or requests for additional comments.

Repeat Offenders

3 February 2013

Romans 7:15, 18-19 (NIV):

·         15) I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

·         18) For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

·         19) For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

I didn't write this scripture, of course, but I could have.  When I got back to God a few years ago, I thought that fighting sin was the main thing in the Christian life.  I knew there was plenty wrong with my walk with Christ - I'd taken more than a quarter century detour and knew I couldn't get back where I needed or wanted to be right away.  But the more I tried to live the life I thought I was supposed to, the more I realized how far away I had gotten.  Obviously, I needed to work and pray harder for strength to overcome?

"Yes, Lord, I need to give up this sin. I've tried to over and over, and I've managed to push it aside for a while, but somehow I can't seem to stop failing.  Please help me!"  Have you ever said something like that?

The verses from Romans above, written by the Apostle Paul, seem to reinforce the idea that Christians are doomed to fail.  I mean, if even the great Paul of the New Testament can't overcome sin, who are we to think we can do better than him???  Do you feel, like I do, that some days you're on a rollercoaster ride of striving to do what's right and other days where you feel like you're falling flat on your face every time you try?  Days when you're on fire for Jesus and other days when you feel like your best effort is a lost cause?

What are we supposed to do?  Just give up?  Just keep sinning, feeling miserable about it, praying for forgiveness, and making (sometimes half-hearted) efforts to try again tomorrow with a (sometimes ever-decreasing) belief that it's going to be different?

Toward the end of chapter 7, Paul gives us the answer:

·         24) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

·         25) Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

When I think to myself, I hear voices in my head.  Am I crazy, or do you do that, too?  There's actually a dialog going on in verbal, non-spoken English inside my head.  The cat starts screaming at 7:00 AM and I think and hear in my head, "I need to feed the cat to get it to shut up," after thinking and hearing in my head something completely inappropriate for this conversation.  Same thing happens when the bartender comes up and says, "You ready for another?"  This time, though, there are competing voices.  "Sure!  Why not?  It's early," says one.  "But, don't you have to get up early in the morning," asks the other.  There's some back and forth.  Ultimately, one wins over the other.  Unfortunately, it's not always the right one.

Isn't that the battle?  Paul indicates that we have a struggle between the flesh and the spirit; the old man and the new one -- the Christian.  Paul himself admits to failing, so why should we expect not to?  We'll never be rid of sin in this world -- only when we die or are raptured and free of the flesh.

We were born into sin as a result of man's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.  Sin is our nature; it  is our natural state.  We belonged to Satan.  But like a child rescued from an abusive home, when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, God took us from Satan, washed us clean, and put us on a path to be what He originally wanted us to be:  loved by Him and loving Him in return; God who doesn't just love, but IS love.  But Satan doesn't like losing.  He hates it, and hates us for leaving him.  He is our past, and that, I think, is one reason why we struggle.  Like children in this world in that same situation, we are pulled back into what we've come to know:  doubts, fears, and mistrust.  As much as we are now loved, we expect the worst that came before, and we fall back into our old habits reflexively, instinctively.

We all know the story of the Prodigal Son.  But I read something recently (can't remember where, sorry!), that really opened my eyes.

What if the prodigal son had died in that pig sty?  Would he have stopped being his father's son?  He certainly would have missed out on all the joy, happiness, and celebration of being reunited with his father and getting back to the life he was meant to have, but he would never have stopped being his father's child.  When he admitted his sins and came back to ask forgiveness; was willing to be treated "like one of your hired servants" just for the opportunity to be back home....  You know the rest.

When we started this discussion, it all seemed gloom and doom:  nothing ahead but failure as far as the eye could see.  But what a different vision Paul gives us just a few verses into the next chapter:

Romans 8:14 (NIV):

·         14) For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

God won't ever disown you.  You're His child; and a child of His is a child of His forever.  If you mess up, you don't lose that. 

Last point:  Christ died, without sin.  But He chose to take on ALL the sins of you and me and all mankind until the end of time so we could claim God as our Father and Christ as our Lord and Savior.  At the end, we find this:

John 19:30 (NIV):

·         30) When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The Greek word Jesus uses is "tetelesti" which is translated in our Bibles as "It is finished." But it actually means "Paid in full."

We fight the flesh and fail daily; but what is it about the Spirit in us that refuses to just roll over and play dead?  It's because our Sprit knows the debt is "Paid in Full."

Last Call:  So, if fighting sin isn't the main thing in the Christian life, what is?