I’ve been a Christian a long time, and over all those years I’ve discovered through my struggles with sin that my greatest sin is lack of trust in God. I came to call those struggles the pain of sanctification; it’s not easy fighting against the inclinations of what Paul calls “the flesh.” Paul describes it well in Romans 7. We do what we don’t want to do, and don’t do what we want. What Winston Churchill said of Russia is true of us, at least if we’re honest with ourselves: we’re a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. What causes us to be such a conundrum to ourselves is, as Paul says, the sin living in us. Christians can relate to Paul’s frustration when he finally says, “What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The answer is as obvious as is the struggle itself: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
The moment we become Christians, or realize growing up we are Christians, we’ve entered into a cosmic conflict between good and evil much bigger than us. The name of the enemy of our souls, Satan, comes from the Hebrew meaning “adversary” or “accuser,” and the devil from the Greek means “Slanderer,” “false accuser,” or “defamer.” I don’t know how any of this works, but somehow as we’re in this battle with forces that literally live in our flesh, he, or his minions, are heaping abuse on us. This could be our own psychology, or our minds, tearing us down, but whatever it is, it is much bigger than just us. If we don’t counter lies with truth, we will end up fleeing from God who we’ll see as our judge, jury, and executioner. He was that, of course, but God himself in Christ chose to pay the penalty himself, all of it.
If we’re to be successful in our battle against sin, as much as is possible in this fallen body, it will come slowly over time, three steps forward, two back, with constant input from the Bible, prayer, the church, reading, and listening. As we do this, we’ll discover something very encouraging in what often discourages us: the conviction of our sin, and the desire to overcome it, is evidence God is working in our lives. A sensitive conscience is a gift from God. Jesus tells us why this is the case when as he’s encouraging his disciples before he goes away, speaks about the Holy Spirit and tells them (John 16):
8 When he comes, he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
The Holy Spirit’s job living inside of us is to convict us of sin! To, in the meaning of the word, to convince, rebuke, and reprove us.
We tend to forget this when we grapple with these forces that so confuse us. We think, why can’t this be easier? Does every Christian go through this? Surely, I must be worse than the average Christian. No, we’re all still sinners, saved, but sinners, nonetheless. Remember the Apostle Paul considered himself the foremost among sinners (I Tim. 1:15), and what he describes in Romans 7 is common among Christians, or should be. Our struggle with sin, with ourselves, is evidence God is working in our lives. No struggle means no God, so we can rejoice in it, and since perfect is never on the table we don’t have to live in guilt and shame. As Paul tells us because of God, Christ is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (I Cor. 1:30). That means, he’s got us covered, from justification, through life, and to our resurrection.
Our Relationship to God: Living in Trust
The purpose of life is relationship to God, our Creator. The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins with the most important question in life: “What is the chief end of man?” What’s our purpose, our telos, why are we here. When we get the answer right, it’s like putting a plug in the socket; the electricity starts to flow: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” There is absolutely nothing as glorious, and for me mind bending, to know that God is intimately involved with every aspect of my life, every moment, every thought even before I think it, my every act, every hope, every aspiration, every joy, and yes, my every worry, fear, doubt and anxiety. The crazy thing, the truth as Paul tells us in Romans 8:28, is that everything works together for our good, and his glory. Not many things, not most things, not almost everything, but every, single, thing. I would joke with my kids as they were growing up that Paul certainly didn’t mean everything. I mean, maybe 98%, but certainly not all of it? Yes, all of it. I know, it’s hard to believe sometimes given life can be, well life, but that’s his promise to us, that we can truly enjoy him! And life. He’s for us, not against us. As Jesus said, he came to give us life abundantly, to the full (John 10:10).
If we’re truly to enter this life of enjoying God, and thus enjoying our lives, we will live by faith, not by sight. Of course, that’s not as easy as it sounds, but Christians have been pulling it off, to one degree or another, for 2,000 years. The phrase, “live by faith, not by site,” comes from the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. He is talking about living in this body, and that while we do, we are away from the Lord, from the eternal dwelling he has prepared for us. Until then, in this body, we as he says, “we groan and are burdened.” It’s not easy, and expecting it to be ironically makes it all the harder. The key that unlocks the joy and ability to enjoy life and God and everything else, is faith, but properly understood. We modern people who live post-Enlightenment, tend to see faith as intellectual assent to something. We believe X, Y, or Z, and thus we have faith, but that’s not the idea conveyed in the Greek πίστις-pistis, for that word, nor how the New Testament normally uses it. Strong’s is helpful in giving us the more expansive, more fully human, and biblical, understanding of the word:
From peitho; persuasion, i.e. Credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself — assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
Although the word isn’t translated this way, I think the best English word that captures its meaning is trust. So, we can alter Paul’s statement a bit, that we live but trust, not by sight. That includes mental and intellectual assent, but so much more. It’s our whole being, including our emotions and will. It’s one thing to believe the bridge will carry the weight of our car as we drive over it, it’s quite another to drive over it.
Then we must ask, what’s the opposite, living by sight. I would say that means living by circumstances as if they we somehow independent of the sovereign, providential control of Almighty God. Many people, most, allow their circumstances to determine their mental and emotional state. If circumstances are to their liking, they are happy and at peace, if not, they are miserable. Christians ought not to live that way, or at least fight against it. Rather, we glorify God before others and spiritual beings as well, angels and as Paul calls the dark side, the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12). One of the more challenging verses in the Bible is I Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” That doesn’t leave much wiggle room, does it.
Another verse puts this topic in perspective, one I pray often, Isaiah 26:3. The chapter is a beautiful, prophetic and eschatological picture of what God will accomplish for his people, and verse 3 speaks to how we combat worry, fear, doubt and anxiety:
You will keep in perfect peace
him whose minds is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.
If we trust in God, and are determined to have that trust, we will have perfect peace. I’m not sure I’ve ever achieved peaceful perfection, but it’s a daily aspiration. I don’t want the burden of having to try to orchestrate all the events of my life so I can be happy and peaceful. It seems a whole lot easier to trust God, to let God be God, and know that he somehow orchestrates everything in our lives for our good and his glory.
The Importance of Repentance
Over the decades I’ve been a Christian I’ve read and heard a lot, and one day I remember listening to something on my little MP3 player on a walk, and the speaker said something like, we don’t realize that fear is a sin. I think he also said, it’s worse than other sins specifically because we’re not trusting God. I don’t think I’d thought of fear as a sin before. Sometimes, of course, fear is a natural and healthy response to a threat in our environment, but whatever fear I experience, it rarely has to do with that. As I thought about this idea of fear as a sin, I realized that means we need to repent of it, and over time I realized that applied to worry and anxiety as well. I notice the commands in the New Testament by Paul and Jesus about these are just that, commands and not suggestions.
In Matthew 6, Jesus says, “Do not worry about your life,” and gives examples of food and clothing. Paul is even more emphatic. In Philippians 4 he tells us.
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Some years back a family member, a Christian, was telling me how things were not going well in her life, and she said fear of something bad happening hangs like a canopy over her head, and in my naturally sensitive way I said to her, “You need to repent!” I remember the strange look on her face, like what does that have to do with anything. At the time I was probably just really beginning to understand how sinful these thoughts and emotions can be, and was starting to make repentance for them part of my daily prayer routine. In fact, repenting of those, and praying for God’s perfect peace that transcends all understanding, are the first things I pray every morning.
Somewhere around this time I learned that Martin Luther begins his 95 Thesis that sparked the Reformation with these words about repentance:
- When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance
That’s a remarkable statement if you think about it. That means 24/7 we understand we’re sinners and depend on and live in light of the cross and Christ as our Savior, our righteous, sanctification, and redemption (I Cor. 1:30). It doesn’t leave much room for self-righteousness, but a life of thanksgiving, the contrast to a life of anxiety. That’s why I always follow my repentance with thanksgiving for the infinite blessings God has poured out on my life.
We can only do this in dependence on God and his word. I recently did a post on when Jesus told us that, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” If we truly desire the perfect peace, an impossible goal but to which we must all strive, it will only happen seeking God in his word and prayer. I love the promises of God in this regard throughout his word, that we find our hope and power in the word that became flesh, and in the words he’s left us in his revelation, Scripture. In Isaiah 55, God gives an invitation to “all who are thirsty,” and he promises his provision if we’ll seek him and forsake our wicked ways. Then he tells us how this can be found.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”
This promise will only finally be fulfilled in “forever,” but we can live in some approximation of that joy and peace now, in this life even as difficult as it can be. That is the power of the gospel.
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