Spirituality

I do not believe as many of my Christian brothers and sisters do, that once a person becomes a Christian he no longer sins. Perhaps it is because I do not perceive Christianity as a state of perfection. In Romans, Paul tells us how to gain victory over sin but he does not tell us how to be perfect. Paul apparently understood that being a Christian is not a destination. A Christian has not “arrived.” Christianity is a walk, a way of life, a process of maturity; sanctification. I believe the Christian is one who realizes that he always stands in need of God’s forgiveness and grace to the very last moment of his life. Paul seem to make this point clear:

For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin (Rom. 7:22-25. NIV).

It is interesting that the quotation does not end when Paul is delivered from “this body of death.” Even after his deliverance, Paul does wrong. He still serves “the law of sin.”

Romans 8:5 is a good synopsis of what Christianity is. “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” It is neither easy nor automatic. It would take a “super-human to continually walk in the Spirit without one misstep and super-humans are in short supply this side of eternity.

The Christian life means growth and change. Growth and change are often painful processes and not everyone grows at the same rate. But as the Christian grows he sheds his religious facades and kindergarten concepts of God. He moves beyond needing Christian baby food. He takes on the attitude of hope and confidence that Paul shows in his closing lines of Romans.

And so even though we “fall into sin ever again” we are committed to an almighty God in faith and obedience. We are in touch with Christ, through the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us. We have hope and power and potential that come from beyond ourselves. We are growing, changing, and becoming perfected in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is a difficult and painstaking process but a glorious one.

As Martin Luther put it:

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name,
from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

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